---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden Present: THE COMIC BOOK NET ELECTRONIC MAGAZINE ISSUE NUMBER 232 9/24/99 Edited by: David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com FREE VIA EMAIL SINCE FEBRUARY 1995 ______________________________________________________________________ T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net ............................ David LeBlanc [2] Letters to the Editor ................. Your Page! [3] TRIVIA CONTEST ........................ Win *real* prizes! [4] Network Buzz .......................... News, gossip & rumors [5] Ramblings `99 ......................... Rich Johnston [6] Tony Isabella's Journal ............... Tony Isabella [7] A Voice from the Doorway .............. Christopher Myers [8] Random Thoughts In A Less Than Random World .... Gary Sassaman [9] Comic Abstracts ....................... John Barker [10] And Let Me Tell You Why ............... David Coulter [11] INTERVIEW:Buddy Scalera ............... Jennifer M. Contino [12] VENTING MY SPLEEN ..................... David Groenewegen [13] M.O.E. Reviews ........................ Paul Dale Roberts [14] My View:PARA TROOP #0 ................. David LeBlanc [15] Top 100 Comics: September ............. Diamond Distributors [16] New Comic Book Releases List .......... Charles LePage [17] HYPE! Section ......................... Various [A] Submission, Subscriptions, Back Issues, Copyrights, BBS Info ______________________________________________________________________ World Wide Web Home Page-->> http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet HTML WEB EDITION at -->> http://www.digitalwebbing.com/cbem featuring a week's worth of the online strip: Steve Conley's ASTOUNDING SPACE THRILLS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- o \o/ _ o _| \ / |_ o_ \o/ o /|\ | /\ _\o \o | o/ O/_ /\ | /|\ / \ / \ |\ /) | ( \ /o\ / ) | (\ / | / \ / \ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The ComicBook Network was founded by Ed Dukeshire and Mike Imboden ----------------------------------------------------------------------- If you wish to receive each issue automatically through your Email account, please address a message to: ComicBkNet@aol.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the SUBJECT to be placed on the FREE subscription list. To drop it use UNSUBSCRIBE as a SUBJECT. See section [A] for the address to mail material to be reviewed. ______________________________________________________________________ All text contained within is copyrighted to the originating author(s). Except where elsewhere noted, The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine is Copyright 1999 by The ComicBook Network. You may freely distribute or retransmit this file intact without alteration for noncommercial purposes only. Except for personal archiving, permission must be obtained from the individual authors to reproduce, retransmit, or publish any part of this magazine. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] On the Net David LeBlanc As a matter of general interest, I take note of the columns, letters and press releases that pass my way with an eye for how many people make the same mistakes in spelling and grammar. I find it interesting how often those so-called press releases are littered with very basic errors. On occasion I will point out repeat errors to the columnists in an effort to be of assistance - hoping they truly want to do the best they can. Only rarely do they ignore that constructive criticism or just plain refuse to follow it for what they believe are valid reasons. Maybe it is the strict parochial school foundation and the stern English teachers in secondary school that makes me feel so strongly about using the language correctly. That is not to say I am perfect myself, but then I don't have an editor to help me out each week. Common mistakes: - the most common is probably words molded into compound words that should not be, and visa versa. The often misused alot (instead of a lot) is a prime example. - the overuse of contractions, as some method of mimicking the way people supposedly talk, can be distracting. An occasional can't or shouldn't is fine but a half dozen per sentence is poor English. - my favorite is the misspelled titles of comic books and characters. I have mentioned this before but for the record it is X-MEN or X-Men not XMEN or X-men SPIDER-MAN or Spider-Man not SPIDERMAN Rogue not Rouge MXYZPTLK is so difficult for everybody as are some Polish creator names (Bill Sienka-whatever) Need I mention the variations we have seen on Siegel in the past weeks? And the MOST misspelled word of the year by almost everyone has to be MILLENNIUM! - The Strangest Thing I Have Ever Seen Is One Fellow Who ALWAYS Typed Every Word Beginning With A Capital Letter. What's Up With That? What is up with this week's comics? BONGO COMICS Bart Simpsons Treehouse Of Horror #5, 3.50 DC COMICS Batman Beyond #1, 1.99 Day Of Judgement #4 (Of 5), 2.50 Flash Secret Files #2, 4.95 Golden Age Flash Archives Vol 1 HC, 49.95 Hitman #43, 2.50 Law (Living Assault Weapons) #3 (Of 6), 2.50 Robin #70, 1.99 Strange Adventures #1 (Of 4), 2.50 <-- Pick of the Week! Supergirl #38, 1.99 Superman Collectors Ed #150, 3.95 Superman Standard Ed #150, 2.95 IMAGE COMICS Savage Dragon #66, 2.50 MARVEL COMICS Avengers Domination Factor #1.2 (Of 4), 2.50 Earth X #8 (Of 12), 2.99 I guess the one thing we have to remember from comics is that they often take liberties with the language or reality for that matter. How else could there be more than one "universe", which by definition is the entirety of all things? David LeBlanc - ComicBkNet@aol.com Editor The Comic Book Net Electronic Magazine ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [2] Letters to the Editor If you want to comment on this or any previous issue, want to offer something for us to publish, or just want to shamelessly suck up to the editor to try and get your name in print send Email to: ComicBkNet@aol.com Note: Letters of comment may be used in future issues of CBEM unless you specifically request us NOT to use them. Your Email address and/or name will be withheld upon request. +++++ Subj: UNIQUE GALLERY OF WONDER WOMAN IMAGES PREMIERES From: nostzone@spacestar.net (Nostalgia Zone) Hello. I would like to introduce you to the WOMAN OF WONDER GALLERY, which is a unique collection of illustrations by top talents in the comic book industry of the DC Amazon icon WONDER WOMAN. http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/wonderthing/thingvall.html If you have a moment, I invite you to visit the site and check out any of the more than 400 illustrations in any of the five different sub-galleries: main gallery, sketchbook, faces, pages and Wonder Girl. Comments are welcomed. Just go to the "About This Venture" page and click on the reproduced original from the old Wonder Woman letters pages, and you can communicate about favorite illustrations you view, ask questions about the artists, or just gab. Thanks for the minute, and hope you visit the Gallery! Joel "WonderGuy" Thingvall +++++ From: WingnutIBH@aol.com Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 14:15:27 EDT Subject: Behemoth SPX Report Hey, gang, Wow! Things went better than expected at the Expo this weekend in Bethesda, Maryland. Excitement was high for all the creators of BRAINBOMB, and the reader response did not disappoint. Friday Ted Tucker and I checked in, found our table and dashed off to unload the 33 boxes of BRAINBOMBS Harold had shipped to the Expo. We spent the hour before the con, delivering creators their copies. A special thanks goes out to Ted Tucker, George Broderick and Harold Buchholz for helping tremendously with this task. Extra special thanks to Marie Tucker, Ted's lovely wife, who did so much at our table and really helped us hone our pitch. While unloading, I got to meet Jay Holser and wife (CLAN APIS) fame who is much better looking than in his e-mail. :) I also talked to Larry Rodman of The Comics Journal, an outstanding cartoonist in his own right. Larry was covering the Expo for the TCJ and was very interested in looking into the BRAINBOMB phenomenon. MIke Zarlenga, the EXPO's big cheese, dropped by and liked the sharp look of BRAINBOMB. Mike, you put on an excellent show. Your hard work is truly appreciated. I dashed off for 10 minutes to grab some books: finding Weasel, a bunch of books from Robot Publishing and a few other books I was questing after. I forgot to stop by the SL booth and pick up my missing issue of Sugar Buzz, but I've been meaning to place a mail order soon anyway. Once the doors opened, I didn't have much chance to shop and trade. Business was brisk and folks were very enamored with our Cartoonists in the Classroom program and the efforts we were about to undertake in getting our book out the public libraries. Many folks either knew teachers or were teachers who purchased the book. Quite a few retailers were excited by the project and discussed using BRAINBOMB to approach schools and libraries in their area. The best part of the show Friday was when a mom bought her little girl a copy of BRAINBOMB. As we were talking, the little girl turned to her mom and said, "It's too heavy." The mom chuckled and offered to carry the book the rest of the show. Customer Observation: The traffic through the Expo was much more mainstream and less freakish than in other years. Many families were present and I saw more enthusiasm for all-ages creations at the show. Heads up to Randy, Johanna and all the other Usenet posters who dropped by our table. Thanks so much for inquiring about Marshall and for purchasing BRAINBOMB. The interest in MARSHALL at this show really made me fell good. I can't wait to hear what you think of it when it's finally out there in November. Neighbors: Don Bethman of PAPER CINEMA fame, was to our right and we traded books and stories. He's a great guy who I am hoping to rope into doing a story for our next BRAINBOMB. Frank Cho, an artist who I love and admire, was to our left. Friday ended with us packing up my BRAINBOMB books to take home as I had to send them out to the creators who had not attended the Expo this week. I then dashed off to Annapolis, late for a rehearsal dinner. My cousin and best friend was getting married on Saturday. This was the second Expo in a row where I had to leave because of a wedding. I made a personal vow to not add any single or engaged friends to my posse in the next year. On the way out of the Expo, I spotted Evan Dorkin (a creator who I have long admired), and plopped a BRAINBOMB into his unsuspecting hands. His reaction: "It's big." I smiled and fled, hoping to catch up with him later in the weekend and see what he had thought of our endeavor. Saturday Well, I didn't go to the Expo. Instead, I spent the day honoring my best man duties. The wedding reception was incredible and I had a great time with the toast. Around 8 that night, I left to head over to John Gallagher's (BUZZBOY) house in Bethesda for the 3rd annual Expo cookout. Last year, I had held the cookout at my house and was overwhelmed by the number of creators who showed up. John volunteered to host the cookout and I was glad to sit back and schmooze without the pressures of being a host. At the cookout, I found out Ted and Marie Tucker had done very well that day. They had run our table, selling lots of LUNAR DONUTS, RAMPAGES, SON OF RAMPAGES, MONSTER PALS and BRAINBOMBS. A quick consensus of the other creators who sold BRAINBOMB at the show led me to estimate that we sold a combined number of 100 copies of the book. Impressive when you consider the $19 price tag. I was ecstatic. The party was great! A little background, I am very shy at parties. I think this has something to do with me not being very confident in high school and college. But whenever I get together with other cartoonists, I don't have a problem. Harold Buchholz and I talked at length on the splash BRAINBOMB had made and strategized a few more ideas for our pr blitz. I also got to meet Todd Webb, a young, insanely talented cartoonist, who really wowed me with his work and enthusiasm for the medium. In chatting with BUGNUT creator Jamie Cosley, I was floored how he had sold out of his Tony Pony bibs. What a great product idea. Vince Sneed of 40 WINKS was his usual saucy self and John and Beth Gallagher were excellent hosts. I especially had a great time with their gorgeous dog, SEVEN. Ask them the unique story behind the dog's name. It's so poetic and sweet. The spirit of the all-ages creators present at the party was very high. Sales were up and interest was high. Harold informed me he had given a copy of BRAINBOMB to Linda Medley (CASTLE WAITING) who expressed an interest in our program and goals. A Texas art teacher attending the party, bought a case of BRAINBOMBS from Harold to take back to his district. He had a curriculum meeting coming up and was confident his fellow art teachers would love the book. I straggled home to my wife around 1:30. Michelle was super understanding about my busy weekend. I had not seen her since Thursday night and we just spent 10 minutes catching up with each other before konking out. Sunday I again returned to the Expo, attending Cayetano's panel on Comics and the Internet. The panel was interesting and really displayed how much potential lies in the Net for creative expression and exploration and possible promotional avenues. If anyone is interested in building a BRAINBOMB site to support our project, please let me know. This is one area we need to address asap. A bunch of us then got together and went to California Burrito for lunch. Again, Harold and I drifted to the topic of BRAINBOMB and where to go next. I shared with him a magazine request I had received that week. The magazine was a local paper that was circulated free in Toy stores and book stores in the Tri-State area. PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY JOURNAL was interested in having a junior reporter interview me about MONSTER PALS. Very cool and a potential promotional outlet for BRAINBOMB. Harold elaborated on his upcoming appearance at a reading council event in October. He was going to speak about comics and present BRAINBOMB as an excellent literacy bridge for young readers. Joe and Danielle Murray and Mark Coale (CAPTAIN BLUE HEN) shared their enthusiasm over BRAINBOMB, along with a tattoo that made many of us chuckle. Next, we went to the Pig Roast and Softball game. The high point of that day was chatting with Evan Dorkin. I had approached him to simply tell him how much I enjoyed his very personal issue of DORK. Before I could share that with him, he asked me about our direction and goals with BRAINBOMB. I was floored. He had glanced through the book and liked the professional look and thought the concept of the book had solid merit. When I told him a second volume was in the early planning stages, he requested I keep him and Sarah Dyer informed as they were interested in doing something for it. WOW! This made my weekend and I walked off in a splendid daze. Anywho, the SPX was the best, and I am eager to see where BRAINBOMB takes us. It's doing exactly what we hoped it would do. It's opening new doors and polarizing readers into sharing their love of comics with others. Brian Clopper +++++ From: "Roberts, Paul" Subject: Re: Planetary Jbarker@inch.com Regarding my overview re: Planetary. Before, I started doing the overviews; I would keep up the continuity of certain favorite comic books. Now, that I have been involved with overviews, I have a tendency of jumping from one title to another. At times I will overview a comic book and do not have the full knowledge of the origins or the substance of all the main characters. Some full time continuity readers will give me details about comic books that I have overviewed, which is very helpful. I wish I had the time to keep up with the continuity of all comic books that hit the racks today, but time does not allow it. I do wish to thank people such as yourself, who will enlighten me on characters biographical information and continuing information on plot development and past storylines. For any readers out there, who follow the full continuity of a comic book, I have overviewed, please make your comments known, it is much appreciated! Sincerely yours, Paul Dale Roberts, Publisher Jazma Universe Online! http://www.jazmaonline.com/ +++++ Subj: I was wondering???? Date: 9/22/99 8:57:22 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: VMce380172 Hi I'm a representative for C.O.M.I.C. the Central Organization for Maximizing Interest in Comics. Our main point to our organization is to prove to people who have never heard of comics and people that don't like comics that comics are cool. That's where you comic in we need sponsors. But if you don't want to be sponsors that's cool-but we need you to spread the word. If interested Email Jason(Comixfreak)Peters our founder and president at Comixfreak@comicfans.com Thank you, Jennifer(Shadoe)Parisi +++++ Subj: Denis Rodier website Date: 9/22/99 10:33:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time From: drodier@lannon.qc.ca (Denis Rodier) Hi, Just a quick note to tell you about my website. It is in fact, more like an online portfolio which covers most aspects of my production. http://lannon.qc.ca/users/drodier/ Send me your comments and spread the word (and the URL) ;-) Thanks, Denis Rodier +++++ From: mjhawkins@earthlink.net (Matt Hawkins) TOMB RAIDER!!! A special online preview of the first seven pages for Top Cow's upcoming Tomb Raider comic is available to look at online: http://www.topcow.com/topcow/topcow.html Tomb Raider is written by Dan Jurgens with artwork by Andy Park and Jon Sibal. I've read the first couple issues of what Dan Jurgens is doing with the series and recommend it highly. Take a look for yourself at the above link. Best, Matt Hawkins +++++ From: Silhouet9@aol.com Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 00:17:21 EDT Subject: Fwd: www.donmcgregor.com Had Re-Found Jazmaonline In a message dated 99-09-23 20:01:23 EDT, MMcGregor5@aol.com writes: From: MMcGregor5@aol.com Hello, Paul, Somewhere along the way, my link to Jazma became outdated, or at the least, when I clicked onto it, it would send me to some place in Cyber-ether, but not Jazma. And during that time I was in San Diego, with my daughter Lauren and son Rob, premiering DETECTIVES INC.: A TERROR OF DYING DREAMS. I arrived in San Diego to learn we might not actually get the books. There was a mis-communication with Quebecor in Canada, and the boxes of books were left standing in my hallway back home! Obviously, not have DENNING & RAINIER in San Diego was not acceptable. We did manage to get books. And we had ZORRO: MATANZAS! ASHCAN EDITIONS to hand out while there, as well. Lauren dressed as Lady Rawhide, and if you go up onto the NEW WEBSITE www.donmcgregor.com you see PHOTOS of her, and me, as well, in the APPEARANCES column. As you probably have heard, Paul, upon returning, I learned that sales figures on MATANZAS! were low, and it was disspiriting to learn that publication of the mini-series probably will NOT HAPPEN until 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY! However, it is my plan to showcase some of the full-color version of the book, which is so exquisitely colored by Sam Parsons, and illustrated by Mike Mayhew, so Zorro fans can see at least a bit of how beautiful this book will be. Meantime, DETECTIVES INC.: A TERROR OF DYING DREAMS is out. It is GRAPHIC ALBUM SIZE and it has almost a 100 pages, and it prints Gene Colan's art beautifully. Except for the TITLE PAGE we shot it all brand-new right Gene's pencils could come through. I love the heft and permanence of the book, Paul. Have you seen it? The mistakes in the mini-series version have been corrected. The album even includes an article on the video version of Detectives Inc. including photos Hope all is well with you. The new site supercedes the others. It has up to date info, including, by the way, that folks can listen into a Black Panther tribute on WBAI radio in New York on September 24th and 11:15. Go up on the website and there is a way to get to it on the Net, from what I am told. And if you get the chance, check out www.donmcgregor.com and let me know what you think. Take care, Paul. And hang in there! +++++ Subj: 'Nuff Said! radio/web show guest info From: nuffsaid@escape.com (Nuff Said) 'Nuff Said!, the comic book interview/talk show, is on the air for a full hour every Tuesday at 10 PM on WBAI-FM, 99.5 in the New York City metropolitan area. We're also on the internet at www.wbaifree.org and www.2600.com as well. There's a link to each of those on our own web site: www.nuffsaid.net Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1999 - A report on the Small Press Expo. Ken attended this convention totally devoted to Small Press/independent/alternative comics. Your phone calls, too. Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1999 - This show is given over to listener phone calls. Now that we're live-streamed on the internet, we hope to get calls from outside the radio listening audience. Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1999 - Pre-empted for the Membership drive and... Tuesday, Oct. 19, 1999 - A two-hour special. We'll be playing an interview with Mike Kaluta taped at a recent Big Apple Convention here in New York City. Mike's fine, detailed linework has made him one of the most admired and respected of all comic artists. His Shadow series from DC in the '70s is considered by many to be the best rendition of that character. "Starstruck" the continuing series he does with Elaine Lee is always excitedly anticipated. He's done posters, the Tolkein calender, and so much more. He talks about the history of the legendary "Studio" and gives advice to young artists. A helluva nice guy, too! A wait'll you see the pile of excellent comics you can get for becoming a member of WBAI-FM! WBAI-FM, 99.5, is a 50,000 watt station broadcast from the Empire State Building. Our signal usually gets out to New Haven, CT; Westhampton, L.I.; the Poconos of Pennsylvania, Orange County, NY and Trenton & Princeton, NJ. But via the internet for an even greater distance, natch. The show covers the entire world of comics: golden age, silver age, contemporary, mainstream, independent, underground, foreign, strips and fandom. Hosted by Ken Gale (interviewer) and Ed Menje (Engineer). WBAI is a Pacifica Network station (if your local station carries any Pacifica programming (such as "Democracy Now" and Gary Null), they might be able to get 'Nuff Said! as well). WBAI-FM, 120 Wall St., 10th flr, New York, NY 10005. --Ken Gale, interviewer and co-host ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [3] [TRIVIA CONTEST] **THE FIRST PLACE TO FIND THE EMAG EACH WEEK IS ON OUR HOME PAGE!** IF YOU ARE DESPERATE TO WIN THE TRIVIA, GO THERE FIRST ON FRIDAY NIGHT http://members.aol.com/ComicBkNet/emag.htm QUESTION OF THE WEEK +Submit your own trivia and win the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm) if you can stump+ +the readers! You MUST submit the correct answer with your question.+ LAST ISSUE'S QUESTION OF THE WEEK: > What do Harley Quinn and Firestar have in common? Both were characters created for animated television who later made appearances in comic books and entered regular continuity. The winner among the many who new was Jim Lawless who wins a Batman Cataclysm Trade Paperback donated by Discount Comic Book Service. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: Sponsored by Discount Comic Book Service at www.dcbservice.com where you can order most DC, Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse comics, statues and retail products for 35% off. How did Superman get MXYZPTLK to return to the 5th dimension the very first time they met? IMPORTANT RULES NOTICE The first correct answer to reach the editor wins the CHEEZY PRIZE(tm). The editor will be the sole judge as to which guess arrived first! Messages with more than one guess will be disqualified. LIMIT: ONE PRIZE PER MONTH PER PERSON! ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [4] Network Buzz News, gossip and rumors from around the industry Acclaim Online Secures Acclaim.Com Internet Address; Online Presence to be Branded with New Domain Name Beginning Sept. 23 GLEN COVE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 23, 1999--Acclaim Online, a division of Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKLM), a leading worldwide interactive entertainment company, today announced that it has secured the Internet address Acclaim.Com and will begin branding its online presence using the new domain name immediately. The former Internet address of Acclaim.Net will continue to be active but will no longer be the featured Acclaim Online Internet brand. "We are extremely pleased to begin utilizing Acclaim.Com as our Internet address," said Ben Fischbach, Senior Manager, Acclaim Online. "Because a dot-com Internet address is such a powerful branding tool we felt it was of paramount importance to secure this URL for our online presence. We now have the prime Internet 'real-estate' needed to continue to expand and diversify our online offerings and increase traffic." To launch the new Internet address, Acclaim.Com has undergone an evolutionary redesign crafted to bring sharper focus to the site and its interactive features. The new site will center on the day's top stories, while offering a highly visible and easy-to-use interface that allows visitors to access such features as free email, the Acclaim Infowire, the Acclaim Online Store, hot links, stories, contests, and game tips and hints. Going forward, Acclaim Online will look to broaden the scope of Acclaim.Com to include server-based online gaming, expanded e-commerce initiatives, and greater community development. "Acclaim.Net has proven to be an extremely popular website," continued Fischbach. "Now with Acclaim.Com it will be that much easier for people to find us. We look forward to continuing to serve and entertain the flourishing online gaming community and welcome all visitors to our site." Acclaim.Com can be accessed by typing www.acclaim.com into a web-browser. Other Acclaim Online URLs include www.acclaimsports.com, www.acclaim.net and www.turok.com. +++++ From the SPLASH PAGE of Comicon.com at: http://www.comicon.com/splash/ 1975 SIEGEL INTERVIEW SURFACES! DC TO SIEGEL AND SHUSTER IN 1941: "YOU ARE ENTITLED TO A PERCENTAGE OF PROFITS FROM SUPERMAN"! September 23: Since the recent revelations concerning the Siegel family's regaining of half the copyright to SUPERMAN (see story below) there has been no lack of fevered and opinionated speculation in the press and on Internet message boards concerning Siegel and Shuster's original deal with National Periodical Publications (which later became DC COMICS). What's been missing from much of the debate, and most reporting on the subject, is any kind of historical record. Decades of myth, rumor and disinformation, compounded by probable non-disclosure agreements, have left a muddy picture in the public's mind about the most infamous business deal in comics history. The SPLASH has unearthed a little known interview Jerry Siegel gave in November of 1975, when he was attempting to get notice for his and Shuster's plight in the face of WARNERS' announcement of the SUPERMAN film that would star Marlon Brando and Christopher Reeve. The interview was conducted by cartoonist Phil Yeh and published in a west coast alternative newspaper COBBLESTONE in December 1975. What's interesting about the interview, and perhaps illuminating to the debates raging in comics fandom, is that Siegel describes the original deal with National, releases a letter from publisher Jack Liebowitz and talks about the various lawsuits. About the original agreement, Siegel said: "They sent us a release form, but prior to that I had met with Jack Liebowitz and others in New York, and he assured us that he would look after our best interests; that this was a firm that was going places and we would go places with them. He sort of sold us on the fact that they would take good care of us, and so that's why we went ahead with the deal." Siegel released two letters from Liebowitz that indicate there was discussion and some sort of understanding concerning licensing royalties between the parties. On Jan. 23, 1940, Liebowitz wrote to Siegel: "Get behind your work with zest and ambition to improve and forget about book rights, movie rights and all other dreams. We'll take care of things in the proper manner." On June 27, 1941, Liebowitz wrote: "Under the terms of our contract you are entitled to a percentage of net profits accruing from the exploitation of SUPERMAN in channels other than magazines. These figures for the last year show that we lost money and therefore you are entitled to no royalties. However, in line with our usual generous attitude toward you boys, I am enclosing a check for $500, which is in effect a token of feeling." While Siegel did not include Liebowitz's figures, the article notes that the SUPERMAN radio show began in 1940 and Paramount began the first of 18 SUPERMAN animated cartoons in 1941. Siegel and Shuster originally had the contract to produce all SUPERMAN stories through their studio. When asked if he quit, Siegel says: "No, I was under contract because I had signed a ten-year contract; this is one of the things that happened as time went by. While I was in the service (Siegel was drafted in WW2) they (National) started ghosting the SUPERMAN scripts, because obviously I couldn't write them while I was away in the service. At the same time, they took over Joe's end of it. Joe and i had a studio in Cleveland; Joe had artists working for him. When i went into the service, Joe and his staff went to New York, or at least Joe and some of them did. I wasn't around and eventually most of Joe's workers worked directly for National instead of Joe. When I came out of the service, I wanted to set up our studio again and operate the way we had before. Incidentally, before i went into the service, I wrote that I hoped they (National) wouldn't take advantage of this (my absence) and try to take away the production of SUPERMAN from Joe and me, and that's exactly what they did turn around and do, or attempt to do, because when I came out. I tried to get things as they were before, where all the material would come solely from Joe and me, and I encountered great resistance on that, and our troubles were on." In 1947, Siegel and Shuster sued National and the court ruled that S&S owned SUPERBOY, but not SUPERMAN. According to the COBBLESTONE article, Siegel and Shuster appealed the decision and only then was the case settled out of court with national paying a sum (reportedly $400,000) to the pair. In 1966, Siegel again tried to sue National, this time under the claim that S&S had never signed away the copyright renewal rights. In 1968, the court ruled against them, and Siegel tried to take the case before the Supreme court. Of this Siegel says: "We were induced to drop our case and not take it to the Supreme Court because National indicated that if we would do that (drop the case) that they would decide whether or not they would do something for Joe and I, and so we figured after all we had been through, we would take a gamble and trust to the generosity and good intentions of National. Many years had passed and we thought perhaps there might have been a higher level of thinking up there..." Thanks to Phil Yeh +++++ From Beau Yarbrough's Comic Wire at: http://www.comicbookresources.com/ Thursday, September 23rd, 1999 CASEY REPLACES LOBDELL ON 'WILDCATS,' SEAN PHILLIPS TO DRAW INTERIORS The much-ballyhooed relaunch of DC/Wildstorm's flagship "Wildcats" title - sans the acronym that made up half its name in its original incarnation - with Scott Lobdell writing and Travis Charest art has changed its team. This week, DC/Wildstorm announced that Charest will just be doing covers from now on, while Sean Phillips takes over on the interiors. And Charest's not going out alone: Lobdell is being replaced by Joe Casey, who's currently writing the solo adventures of a former Wildcat, Mr. Majestic. The new creative team of Joe and Sean debuts with #8, on sale in February. Travis stays on as cover artist. MARVEL ENDS TWENTIETH CENTURY IN 'BLAZE OF GLORY' It's the end of an era for Marvel Comics as the twentieth century winds to a close. And, fittingly, they'll go out with a series that bridges the end of another era, a century ago. Leo Manco and John Ostrander are telling the story of the last great adventure of Marvel's Western heroes in "Blaze of Glory," which comes out twice in December and then twice in January. Rawhide Kid, Caleb Hammer, Outlaw Kid, Red Wolf, Kid Colt - Outlaw, the original Ghost Rider, Gunhawk and Reno Jones all play a part in the series. DC TO REPRINT CLASSIC TITLES IN 'MILLENNIUM' PROJECT DC Comics is taking the time to look back on the twentieth century before it pushes on to the twenty-first. DC Comics announced this week that they'll be doing a series of "Millennium Edition" reprints of classic comics, beginning in December. In stores December 1: DC Comics Millennium Edition: "Action Comics" #1 DC Comics Millennium Edition: "The Brave and the Bold" #28 In stores December 8: DC Comics Millennium Edition: "Detective Comics" #27 DC Comics Millennium Edition: "Sandman" #1 In stores December 15: DC Comics Millennium Edition: "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" #76 DC Comics Millennium Edition: "Showcase" #4 In stores December 22: DC Comics Millennium Edition: "Mad" #1 DC Comics Millennium Edition: "Crisis on Infinite Earths" #1 In stores December 29: DC Comics Millennium Edition: "The Man of Steel" #1 DC Comics Millennium Edition: "WildC.A.T.S." #1 (Some Internet sites have published an earlier listing, based on DC Comics' initial listing for Diamond Comic Distributors' "Previews" catalog. The above listing is the final December run-down of Millennium Editions. DC Comics also has pulled "Gen13: Science Friction," also from the same preliminary listing, from the catalog due to production delays.) +++++ From The Daily Buzz at http://www.mania.com/newsarama/index.html Spielberg On Spider-Man? Is Steven Spielberg interested in directing the film version of Spider-Man? Yes, according to a "well positioned source" who spoke with Reel.com columnist Jeffrey Wells. Why? Spielberg would be again working with screenwriter David Koepp of The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Dreamworks needs a hit, according to Wells. Plus, Spielberg likes stories about troubled teens with secrets. Spielberg's spokesperson Marvin Levy told Wells the rumor wasn't true but his source remained adamant. --Cinescape +++++ From Newsarama; http://www.AnotherUniverse.com/newsarama WINNER OF THE 1997 & 1998 INTERNET "SQUIDDY" FOR BEST WEB SITE by Michael Doran, AnotherUniverse.com's Newsarama Marvel Comics has officially confirmed Newsarama's report of earlier today regarding the return of Chris Claremont as the title's new writer. "It's a challenge returning to a series with which I have always been so closely associated with. Yet, at the same time, it's a real treat to revisit the lives of so many old and dear friends," said Claremont. "I always said I had a lot of stories yet to tell about the X-Men, now I've got the chance to do that. Claremont's return will commence with X-MEN #100 and UNCANNY X-MEN #380, both due in March 2000. ---------------------------------- Also rumored by unconfirmed by either party is a major shake-up involving a portion of editor Jason Liebig's stable of so-called "2nd tier" titles, more specifically X-Man, Generation X, X-Force and Cable. According to reports, all creative teams on those titles have been told that major changes will take place come this March, although exactly who is being let go and who is not is not yet known. While the possibility exists some creators could remain on their current assignments, the shake-up will reputedly involve a significant creative turnover, as well as the possible expanded involvement of the current Cable co-penciler_the always-controversial creator Rob Liefeld. Though it appears changes will be made either way, according to the reports - negotiations are rumored to exist between Marvel and Liefeld to make him a sort of head plotter and consultant to what would become a small family of books - Generation X, X-Man, and X-Force (Cable is rumored to be moving over to the core X-office, possibly because he may be added to the Uncanny X-Men line-up?) In addition to plotting and penciling one title, and working with Liebig to springboard ideas and overall plots for other writers to execute (plot and script), Liefeld would also work with Liebig and have input on all phases of the comics' production, including the choosing of art teams. One rumored result of the deal would be the return of artist Ian Churchill to Marvel as penciler for one title. Reached for comment on the rumors, Liefeld replied, "I direct you to Marvel in regards to anything regarding the X-office and can offer no comments at this time". Similarly, Liebig declined to comment when reached Friday morning. One creative X-change has been confirmed, however. Gambit writer Fabian Nicieza tells us artist Steve Skroce is leaving the title with the double-sized issue #12, providing layouts that another artist will provide finished pencils over. "Anthony Williams will be drawing issues #13 and #14, the final chapters of the 3-part story arc set in 1891 called, 'The Sunset Dawn' and Yanick Paquette, who has drawn some gorgeous stuff at DC, including Wonder Woman, will be drawing #15, which is a Rogue spotlight issue setting up all kinds of cool stuff for down the road," said Nicieza. The writer does not know what Skroce will be going next, and tells us new editor and old Acclaim co-hort) Mike Marts will make a decision on a regular artist after that, "Just in time for another major story arc to begin that will pave the way to the planned 25th issue New Son X-travaganza!" Heisler's Disavowed Speaking of Wildstorm and Mike Heisler_he, co-writer Brandon Choi, and artist Tommy Lee Edwards will debut their new title, Disavowed - what Heisler calls Wildstorm's "most different" title, and "a creepy, shuddery excursion into the supernatural" - this January. DC's Art Director Mark Chiarello recently filled Newsarama in on the artists and designers that have been brought to give Batman and Gotham City their visual overhaul come January 2000. According to Chiarello, Chip Kidd is designing the new cover designs (logo, trade dress) for the three core Batbooks, and the rest of the contributors break down as follows - Batman Costume, Street Police Uniform, SWAT Police Uniform, Batmobile - Dave Johnson. Gotham City - Scott McDaniel (including the Batcave) and Shawn Martinbrough, Dale Eaglesham (including Wayne Manor). BatGadgets - Eliot Brown, Dave Johnson. Oni Press' Jamie Rich recently left a post on Oni' Yahoo message boards confirming the end of their regular anthology title Oni Double Feature. "Yes, Oni Double Feature is resting in peace following #13," explained Rich. "The reasons are many. Beyond continually trying to find great material, we found we couldn't gather a substantial enough readership that would pick it up regardless of what was in the issue (a plague on all anthologies). This means you practically have to remarket it every month - and this is a strain on energy and $$$. We will be going out with a bang, with 4 strips by Paul Dini, drawn by Barry Caldwell, Stephen DeStefano, Tom Fowler, and (you heard it here first), a farewell ODF strip by Paul and Chynna Clugston-Major." +++++ From Zentertainment; HTTP://WWW.ZENTERTAINMENT.COM To sign a friend up or begin receiving ZEN yourself, e-mail: subscribe@ZENtertainment.com CORONA COMING ATTRACTIONS reports music video director Paul Hunter (Marilyn Manson's "Dope Show") is rumored to have signed on to helm NEW LINE CINEMA's BLADE sequel. Hunter is also attached to helm a film based on the VERTIGO Comics' series HELLBLAZER. http://www.corona.bc.ca/films http://www.newline.com +++++ From COMICS 2 FILM at http://www.comics2film.com X-Men ----- FROM DAILY VARIETY: Michael Fleming of Daily Variety confirmed what the rumor-mill has been saying since last Friday: James Marsden has officially signed on for the role of Cyclops in the X-Men movie. This brings an end to the casting (and speculation) of all the major roles in the film. According to Fleming Marsden just finished filming Sugar and Spice for New Line and Gossip for Warner Bros. Previously he's been seen in Disturbing Behavior. http://www.variety.com Alien Legion ------------ FROM COMIC BUYERS' GUIDE: Alien Legion creator Carl Potts recently revealed the name of the director attached to the planned TV series based on his comic book creation. Speaking Matt "Scoop-of-the-century" Brady in his Mass O' Media column in to Comics Buyer's Guide, Potts revealed that director John Landis is attached to the show. Landis' name is well-known to movie fans as the director on such movies as Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf in London, The Twilight Zone and many others. Bob Gale, who wrote the Back to the Future movies and grabbed the attention of comic fans with his run on the Batman: No Mans Land story, has developed a pilot script for the show. Potts told Brady, "We're shopping it as a TV series. We recently pitched it to Disney for a series on ABC, but I think they thought it would be too violent for a Disney-owned company." Potts also remarked, "If we're not successful, the control of the property comes back to me in the not-too-distant future, and I'll work to set it up as a feature myself." http://www.comicsbuyersguide.com +++++ From the DCOnline newsletter; http://www.dccomics.com/newsletter.html To subscribe, or for questions or comments about the DC newsletter, please email DCWebSite@aol.com. THE STEAMPUNK MACHINE ROARS TO LIFE Where is the future set 100 years in the past? Where do haunted steamships go to die? Where are hearts fed with coal and souls borne of steel? Enter STEAMPUNK, the new ongoing CLIFFHANGER PRODUCTIONS series by Joe Kelly (Deadpool, ACTION COMICS) and Chris Bachalo (DEATH: THE HIGH COST OF LIVING, THE WITCHING HOUR, Generation X). A surreal steambath of ideas and images fashioned from the wickedest work these minds have ever envisioned, STEAMPUNK is a fusion of turn-of- the-century steam-driven technology and the intrigue and romance of late Victorian culture at breakneck mechanized speed. "Forget everything you know about the industrial steam- driven, rivet-sown world that existed at the beginning of the twentieth century," Bachalo warns. "Forget every- thing you've read and heard about the iron-wrought horse and carriage and dark-shadow days of the Victorian age. Because Joe Kelly and I have just shoved the two eras into a tree shredder and shot the remains all over the landscape in this industrial gothic, sci-fi, action- adventure, steam-driven love story." STEAMPUNK will be released monthly in story arcs of four to six issues, with several months hiatus planned between arcs. According to Bachalo, this system will allow him to maintain a high level of quality while holding the title to a consistent shipping schedule, and will also provide the opportunity for collections, Specials or other merchandise to be solicited during the months between story arcs. "The most important thing", says Bachalo, "is to have a realistic publishing schedule that retailers and fans will be able to count on, and keep to it." Feed the coal oven, fire the pistons, and the machine groans to life. It's evolution, baby! ANIMATION EPISODE SCHEDULE THE NEW BATMAN/SUPERMAN ADVENTURES and BATMAN BEYOND air Weekdays and Saturdays on the WB Network. Times given are Eastern and Pacific. This schedule is subject to change. 9/27/99 (4:00 pm) - "Beware the Creeper" (Batman) 9/27/99 (4:30 pm) - "Dead Man's Hand" (Batman Beyond) 9/28/99 (4:00 pm) - "Solar Power" (Superman) 9/28/99 (4:30 pm) - "Sins of the Father" (Batman) 9/29/99 (4:00 pm) - "Love is a Croc" (Batman) 9/29/99 (4:30 pm) - "Father's Day" (Superman) 9/30/99 (4:00 pm) - "Apokolips...Now! - Part I" (Superman) 9/30/99 (4:30 pm) - "Apokolips...Now! - Part II" (Superman) 10/1/99 (4:30 pm) - "Shriek" (Batman Beyond) 10/2/99 (8:00 am) - "Obsession" (Superman) 10/2/99 (9:00 am) - "Joyride" (Batman Beyond - new) ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [5] Ramblings 99 Rich Johnston twisting@hotmail.com [Renamed for the new year, Ramblings 99 continues to spread confirmed and unconfirmed news and rumours. It welcomes comment, especially comment that clarifies, refutes and corrects information already disseminated. Rich Johnston is an advertising copywriter, co-self publisher of Twist And Shout Comics, BBC comedy writer and comics columnist. He currently lives in South London, England. His column can be found online at: http://www.twistandshoutcomics.com All Ramblings e-mail received will be considered public domain and may be quoted.] This column is RUMOUR. Do not take anything here seriously. These RUMOURS are presented here as GOSSIP for their ENTERTAINMENT value. Dateline: 17 Sep1999 The Dark Troll Returns. I'm back. Lock up your grannies. Sterling thanks to Mike Meyer for keeping the column going while I was away (even if we seem to have had yet another counter reset!) You're safe in his hands folks! Just gave myself a few days breather after the holiday, coinciding with a huge increase of work at the office and the arrival of Dungeon Keeper 2 to my new PC. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin. Anyway, Scandinavia was great and so were their comics. Now, my Scandic friends, be aware that I am likely to make loads of mistakes and all my observations are just that, based on what I saw. I didn't really search anything out so I'm sure I missed loads. I'm an ignorant English yobbo abroad, alright? Anyway. Sweden is good for comics especially on the news stand. Didn't see any comic shops, but the newsagents have a variety of stuff... lots of American translated reprints of the Marvel, DC and Image superhero stuff, US comedy comics, some pulp action adventure and the one I went for, Pyton and MegaPyton, a mixture of original and translated US alternative comics, freely and readily available everywhere. Joy. Daniel Ahlgren and Tomas Runcks were particular favourites of mine. In a larger newsagent in Karlstad, I also bought Flamingo and Galago, two Swedish comics magazines. Flamingo puts a busty babe on the cover, has entertainment features and glossy pages. Galago has original and reprinted alternative strips, but of the less humorous type than Pyton. One strip in Flamingo, which I think could have been French in origin (the copyright is to Dargaud Editeur Paris) is drawn by Labiano. I tell you Cliffhanger, the Marvel Xbooks or Marvel Knights should snap this fellow up, he work is reminiscent of the cartoony exaggeration of Cliffhanger, but grounded with a sense of pedestrian composition, realistic background and a strong attention to detail. And the men have got large chins. Norway saw me find my first comic shop of the trip, Tronsmo in Oslo (thanks to Streetwise magazine for the tip). An alternative bookstore up top, below was a wonderful collection of comic book paperbacks and hardbacks with a small smattering of imported US pamphlet comics of the ABC/Vertigo/Heart Of Empire type. I picked up a range of Norwegian stuff, included a best-of-translated-into-English book called No Comprendo Comics. This is the kind of book I'd have expected British people to have produced in the eighties, a kind of Escape/Ark/ Heartbreak Hotel affair. The kind of stuff we could do with right now. The star strip is 'I Really Like You' by Waldemar Hepstein which is a self-pitying slice-of-life unrequited love piece, the kind of this Joe Matt would be proud of, with a very varied art style that matches the mood of each panel. 'Bad Influence' by Christopher Nielsen is a highly amusing tale of a young boy attempting to live the life that his current favourite author Buskowski writes about. The back page, Modern Times again by Waldemar Hepstein is a real scream too. Christopher Nielsen also writes and draws a book called Weltschmerz, of which I picked up the first issue. A woman's trial though life and it's all down to her bloody children. Good argument for contraception, this one! There was a fair amount of translated US stuff, and I just had to buy the first Transmetropolitan collection in Norwegian, known there as Transmetro, just because they'd stuck a Lobo reprint in the back too. Made me laugh. Colour separation wasn't great though... reminded me of those early eighties Marvel UK attempts. Back through Sweden, Stockholm, saw me picking up Sarajevo Tango, a beautiful book in watercolours and pencils by Hermann, reminding me sometimes of Michael Zulli, sometimes of Phil Winslade but with a strong voice of his own. Vertigo should sign this guy up if they know what's good for them. If they can afford him, that is. Denmark did the business for me. Antikvariat, this second hand bookshop in Copenhagen with a US back issue comic collection... and a pile of small press Danish comics. A quick browse soon brought the attention of the manager who was able to direct me towards the best his shop could offer, and I bought as much as the previous night's Tivoli would allow. Check out www.image.dk/~sirich/ for more details. And while you're doing that, here's a review of a few comics I bought there. Fisk by Peter Kiellan, from big Danish comics small press publisher Fahrenheit, is a non-speaking surreal story about a walking fish moving from one location to another through a series of holes. Reality is a variable thing here, as characters move without discernible motivation while the fish's main needs of food, drink and cover are it's main concern. It's a timid thing with a sense of luxury and humour. Oh and the aliens don't help much. It's charming and dashing from one mood to another, hurtling along this strange stream of consciousness. 64 pages of it. Farenheit 62.6 is just one book length issue of a long running anthology series, full of a huge variety of styles, cartoony, minimalist realism, photo-realistic, dark shaded plasticine, angular spot backs... a real variety I haven't seen since Raw. A favourite is STIG&MArThA by Mardon Smet, exploding with tightly laid down cartoons... combining such energy and enthusiasm with such time consuming craft is admirable. The last strip, Sbyoren G Mosdal is an Al Columbia-The Biologic Show lookalike (although who came first?) and this strip is reprinted and English translated in Drone 1... the only book I picked up not published by Fahrenheit still has a direct connection. Stol and Bord, both by S. Behncke, published by Fahrenheit. I am reliably informed that Stol means 'chair and Bord means 'table' and these companion books contain a series of one page gags, mostly silent and the rest you can work out easily enough. The author's style is versatile to show a real visual difference from page to page, and each book's strips have either a table or a chair in a starring role. The amount of comedy derived from these pieces of furniture is quite remarkable. Drone 1 by Soren G Mosdal, published by Debaser. Not published by Fahrenheit but spun off their anthology book, Drone is thankfully in English and tells the story of a famous, much loved individual for his writings and for his skills as a lover, all in a high faluted narrative. This is followed by a number of short stories, each with their own twist on Mosdal's artistic style. A very enjoyable book. Fahrenheit is at Mysundegade 9, st. 1668 Kohenhavn V. Denmark while Debaser is at Asgerrysgade 5-7 Vesterbro 1727 Kobenhavn V. Denmark. The rest of the honeymoon was stunning, and I give a wholehearted thank you to Paul Levitz for pulping the Elseworlds 80 Page Giant and allow me to make a small profit equivalent to a year's worth of comics buying... or a honeymoon I'll always remember. Thanks, Paul. Care to do the same again soon? Now what's been happening while I've been gone? Something about DC and Superman? Wizard publishing comics? Nothing important, I'm sure... Gemma's Gem. Actually, here's something much more important. Posy Simmond's daily vertical half A3 page strip illustrated story/comic strip in The Guardian, Gemma Bovary finally came to an end last week and is collected and published this month. A fine piece of crafting from one of Britain's premier comic artists, it sees a couple, Gemma and Charles Bovary moving to France while watched and observed by their neighbour baker as he sees the patterns of the novel Madame Bovery echo in their lives. You can order a copy by clicking here, and after reading the entire run, it has my highest recommendation. And Twist And Shout (basically me) will be appearing at Galaxion '99, a sci-fi convention in London Olympia on October the 3rd and 14h. I'll be bringing the wife on Sunday to help me out too as I'll also be there to sign launch copies of the Tales Of Midnight Kosovo Refugee Benefit Comic I've been plugging for ages on this column. And I've just been told that all you Johnny Foreigners will be able to order copies in the Previews For December... look for Blue Silver in the Comics section, and hopefully Diamond will give it Featured Item, Spotlight, whatever. Remember chaps, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Garth Ennis, Chris Achilleos, that bloke who played Boba Fett, Walter Koenig, Al Davison, Steven Grant, loads of other great people... and finally, me! Go to www.bluesilver.com for all the information your little hearts can handle. You'll also be able to bid for all the original art produced too, you lucky bleeders. Mike adds: Twist and Shout will also be at Dan Vado's new brainchild, the Independent Press Experience, debuting in Los Angeles Oct. 17. Ipex (which you can read about at their site) is Dan's attempt to get back to the basics of the first APEs -- a small show with lots of Zines as well as indy comics in a one-day show. This one's in LA, and if it works, he's planning to take it on the road to Chicago, Seattle, and New York. The attendance list looks pretty good, all the Slave Labor folks on the Left Coast, and just about all the LA APE contingent as well, plus members of CAPS (Comic Art Professionals Society, a group started by Mark Evanier and Sergio Aragones among others). Our mortal enemy Nat Gertler will also be there, selling the issues of The Factor which include our work, not to mention art from the fabulous Carla Speed McNeal , Matt Feazel and others. Savaged Dragon? Erik Larsen writes at www.savagedragon.com "Savage Dragon sales are going down-- they have been pretty much from the first issue. It's getting dangerously low at this point. Now, I like working on this book and I'd like to do it forever but if things don't change soon-- it may be impossible for this to continue. Changing the book to B&W would be the kiss of death-- NO superhero book EVER has lasted as a black and white title and I don't expect Savage Dragon to be the exception to that. I could certainly raise the cover price to $2.95 but it will negatively impact sales-- it won't stop the bleeding but it may keep the patient alive a while longer. Advertizing is pretty well out of the question-- right now a single page ad in Wizard equals my profits for a couple issues and it WON'T help sales a whole hell of a lot. Now what? If there was ever a need to get out the word-- NOW is the time. If you ever thought of turning somebody on to Savage Dragon--NOW it the time. If you ever thought of getting some Dragon fan a TPB for Christmas, NOW is the time. I WANT to keep going. I'll need your help. -Erik" Ramblings '99 absolutely adores Savage Dragon. I've bought it since it first came out, even recognizing the character from Erik's Spider-man/Wolverine story in Marvel Comics Presents (49-51 wasn't it?) and have no desire to see this truly wondrous comic disappear. If you don't know the book, it's about a green skinned, head finned policeman called Dragon, who lives in a Chicago heavily populated with super types. It sits more with Astro City and Top Ten than with Captain America, Hulk or Spider-man and is the only original Image book that is still written and drawn by its creator as opposed to being handed over to the work-for-hire mobs. It's a very interesting book, sprinkled with some of the most outrageous fight scenes in comics. Well worth your money every month. So go out and order it... back issues should be pretty cheap too. Travis Travesties. Over on NextPlanetOver.Com, Scott Lobdell's been talking about WildCATS, about creative freedom.... " In regards to WILDCATS, in a WAY Travis and I had total freedom from editorial. I can't think of a single incident or idea that we proposed that got nixed or even questioned...everyone was one thousand per cent supportive, even at the thought of introducing the gay NOIR to the team." "Having said that, however, I didn't have as much "creative" freedom as I would have liked. By that I mean TRAVIS is an immensely talented artist who comes to any project with a lot of ideas. Unfortunately for me as the writer, more often than not those ideas stray far from the actual plot as it was written. As a result, I often got pages back that took the story I had written and sort of hurled it off into oblivion for several pages -- only to try to have it bounce back in the last few pages." "I don't think Travis would object if I talk about the first issue. The GRIFTER/SPARTAN vs. the gun runners was supposed to last about 7 pages, at which point we were going to intro EMP hiding out at the VATICAN of all places, explaining the far reaching influence of Kenyan and giving way clues as to the fate of the other WILDC.A.T.s. Instead, I got back what was essentially 12 extra pages of SPARTAN beating up a tank. A tank? I asked. TRAVIS explained he had seen SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and was intrigued by the tank." "Now, as talented as TRAVIS is, it was quite frustrating for me to read and abundance of posts and letters railing against how I didn't know how to write a story and the pacing was ridiculous and the ending was too abrupt and etc, etc, etc...and not feeling it was my place to say "B-but...but that's not the story I wrote. I agree with you -- it is poorly paced and there is no emotional conflict on these pages and i don't understand why this character is doing this for that reason or where that gun suddenly came from or where those characters disappeared to half way through the story..." So instead, I had to concentrate on making the stories the best that I could possibly make them as they were handed to me." So, did I have freedom? Interesting question. (And before anyone reads that as being bitter -- I'm not, even a little. I love TRAVIS and think he is brilliant...but working on the series has proved more frustrating that fascinating. Who wants to be an X-Man? The rumour is that Deadpool does... please, don't let it be true... or if it is, let Kelly write Uncanny and Priest write X-Men without any editorial dictates... But before he does that, Deadpool's up for fisticuffs with Thor. Priest gave a little insight on rec.arts.comics.misc. ****SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!**** Priest: 'Pool gets his hands on Thor's hammer, rams it on the ground, and becomes Beta Ray Wade. Insert big fight. Now, as for how and why and what the heck is going on, THAT you will have to wait for. :-) ****BACK TO RUMOURS! BACK TO RUMOURS! BACK TO RUMOURS!**** And this is a rumour. Just that. Nothing else, okay? Well, one reader writes to say "I'm a big fan of RICH'S RAMBLINGS, and I heard a rumor the other day that I thought you would like to hear: Jason Liebig (Marvel X-book editor) is going to fire all the creators on all his books (BISHOP, X-MAN, X-FORCE, GENERATION X, MUTANT X and X-MEN UNLIMITED) in an effort to boost sales by bringing in new creators. Have you guys heard this already?" Not until now... we're in the process of contacting affected individuals. One who'd rather not be named says they can't comment on the story, so maybe we can read something into that, maybe we can't. Let's see if we get a few more replies in the next few days. But if Jason were to ditch all the creators, surely he'd be perfect to join DC's Batman and Superman editorial teams? Elsewhirled. A word comes to us from DC's Legal department, as an individual has been given the job of checking their comics for babies in microwaves. We're also told that the reason DC's Elseworld 80 Page Giant shipped to Britain was that they didn't receive the recall announcement in time. However, copies were available for reorder from Diamond UK for over three weeks after the book shipped and certainly after the pulping story went public. Interesting... Why Are We Waiting? Talking of Diamond UK, they seem to have dropped the ball again. Alan Moore's Awesome Adventures shipped well back in August, yet no UK stores have received copies of the comic, save for a few 'premium' editions this week from Dynamic Entertainment or something. We all want to see these infamous panels that weren't drawn by anyone, just featured art from previous comics clipped, cropped and placed. Sigh... A Diamond UK representative in Warrington refused to comment. Mind you it was late on a Friday afternoon and the receptionist in their London branch said all the marketing staff were out on a long lunch... I'll try them again on Monday. Projected Sales. As for Blair Witch Project... a lot has been made over the extra shipping and multiple prints of the comic as late demand well outstripped supply. So what actually happened? The book was originally late solicited in Diamond Dateline, Diamond's weekly retailer pamphlet, which led to orders of 700. A Previews listing was deemed necessary, and an extra 3800 were ordered - 500 of which went to one store owned by one of the actresses' parents, who arranged a signing opportunity. A couple of thousand more printed for the film company itself totalled about 6000, so the initial 18,000 printing was quite optimistic. Then the film was released. Shame there weren't enough for all the UK's initial orders... Matt Finish. Talking of pulping, the Drawn And Quarterly printing of Joe Matt's Cartoon Diary wasn't released because Joe Matt wasn't happy with the printing... unless you ordered from Red Route Distribution who, unawares, managed to get some and sold them quite nicely. Chunky Plug. Time for another great book to plug, Goodbye, Chunky Rice from Top Shelf, sold to me by the excellent Pete Ashton at Caption '99. A very charming book, reminiscent of Fisk (see above) and gloriously produced, this very detailed book should be up for the Eisners. Buy it when Diamond get round to distributing it. Pat Mobile. After this week's announcement on Mania that Wizard are to publish comics, Wizard's most prominent employee on the internet Pat O'Neill decided to get his shot in first. "For the record, because I'm sure someone will bring my name into this sooner or later, I think Wizard's decision to publish a line of comics is a major mistake on both ethical and economic terms. Ethical because no publisher should be in this conflict of interests--publishing a product in competition with the companies it reports on. This has long been one of my complaints about Fantagraphics and the Journal, and Wizard doing it is no different. Economic because I think they're going to lose a ton of money." For more ranting, type Pat O'Neill into Dejanews past articles search and prepare to be swamped. Titillation. It's been pointed out to us that Alex Ross let a little something slip on his cover for Top Ten 1. Check out Toybox's frontal chest area on the cover to see what Jackie is so intently looking at. This website should do the trick: http://www.insanerantings.com/Clambake/TopTen.jpg Gorillagram Check out Ray Mescallado's Fanboi Politik (always a favourite of mine) in The Comics Journal as the Waid/Busiek Gorilla rumour we originally brought to light gets a thorough going over. You know, we haven't heard anything about that for a while... could the Image problems still be... problems? You've Never Had It So Good. It's an industry truism that comics have never been as good before as they are now. I certainly think it's true, but the usual examples I give are your Acme Novelty Libraries, your From Hells, your Dorks, your Palookavilles... but I think it's true about superhero comics too. Reconstructed superheroes are doing great business, after the superhero stories have been deconstructed, they've been reconstructed into something else, offering something new and vibrant. Exciting, funny, clever-clever and delivering the same adrenaline pump to young adults that we used to get when we were kids. My recommended list follows: Authority (Wildstorm), Black Panther (Marvel Knights), Daredevil (Marvel Knights), Deadpool (Marvel), Earth X (Marvel), Hitman (DC), Inhumans (Marvel Knights), Invisibles (DC/Vertigo), Planetary (Wildstorm), Promethea (ABC), Quantum And Woody (Acclaim), Savage Dragon (Image), Tom Strong (ABC), Tomorrow Stories (ABC and Top Ten (ABC). There's suddenly a revival of intelligence and I think it's telling that almost all of the books are relatively new or have been significantly revamped. If you like some of the above and haven't tried the others, maybe this list will help you find something else to enjoy. And no, JLA, Astro City, Avengers and Rising Stars don't make the count as of yet. But maybe Spyboy, Steampunk, Kin and M-Rex will be worth checking out, as might be Jenkin's Incredible Hulk. And we're all really really looking forward to the Mark Millar/Frank Quitely Authority... The Future Is Now. And let me give you a taster of what Twist And Shout Comics' next printed book will be (if I have any say in it) hopefully for January 2000... Pokemonstrosities (guest starring The X-Flies). You have been warned. Previews coming soon... Dateline: 23 Sep1999 Pop Goes The Wildstorm We've received a rumour that backs up something we'd previously heard - Warren Ellis will be getting his own imprrint at Wildstorm for his creator-owned work, in a similar fashion to Alan Moore's ABC line. Each title in the line will be a mini-series and Warren will supply three titles a year for three years. Tim Bradstreet (famous for his covers of people smoking against walls) will be supplying the art for one of these titles, unnamed, but three issues long. No other artists have been named by this rumour monger. Sounds like Pop Comics to me... Warren Ellis has yet to return our e-mail. The sod. Scott Dunbier wasn't any more forthcoming either. Anyone else heard anything out there? Anyone got a contact for Tim? Who else could be attached to this project?? Purely speculation, it would be nice if Warren could do a piece with Gary Erskine... Gary would be perfect for Wildstorm. Actually Scott, if you're reading this, Gary would be perfect for any of those military/superhero books you do. Check out his early work on Warheads to see what I mean. I also reckon people like Phil Winslade and Steve Pugh could be up for this line. What about Matt (D'Israeli) Brooker? Hey, how about a return for Lazarus Churchyard? Please? Gorillas In The Missed. We've been told that Gorilla is definitely not dead and to expect some announcement in the next few weeks. When last seen it was with either Wildstorm or Image. Anyone with added info who can fill us in? Awesome's Whereabouts. Pat Sullivan, king of Diamond UK and all round nice chap, was on hand to fill us in on the missing Alan Moore's Awesome Adventures issue 1 Missing-In-Action story. He's aware of the problem and says that it's probably a 'supply chain error'. We look forward to hearing more when it's sorted. If it's sorted. Can Anyone Think Of A Bad Pun Using 'X' That I Haven't Used Which Would Work Well With This Story? Reaction to the mass firings story at the X-books has been muted. No confirmations, but then no outright denials. No response from Our Man At Marvel yet, either. Fabian Nicieza, Gambit writer (not affected if the rumour is true) writes to tell us he hasn't heard anything about this. An acquaintance of Jay Faeber writes to speculate that Jay would probably kick Jason Liebig's arse if such a situation occurred. Gratuitous fight scene! Gratuitous fight scene! Gratuitous Plug. The (now named) Tales Of Midnight Kosovo Refugee Benefit Eighty Page Giant is just off to the printers in time for launching at Galaxion '99 on October the 3rd. They seem to be getting the publicity they need, all the London magazines are doing features, and LAM is giving Tales Of Midnight the cover. Look out for Barry Norman's feature on the show for his Sky TV show, and convention mainstay Elaine Mace will be in costume to promote the book. Jeremy Bullock's story, set in a galaxy far, far away featuring a suspiciously familiar character that isn't Boba Fett has been approved by Lucasfilm too. And I'll be there, flogging my wares with some original preview art for Pokémonstrosities. The cover features a Pikachu-lookalike singing in Las Vegas. Go to http://www.bluesilver.com for more fun information. That means you, Mike Doran and Matt Brady. Future Plugs Friendly neighbour-hood David Bishop was on hand to give us some 2000 AD upcoming news. We've restrained Dominatrix Mary this time, so let the man speak! "Nemesis the Warlock returns in Prog 1165, on sale from October 13th. Henry Flint is drawing part nine as we speak, while Kev O'Neill is illustrating the final ever episode of Nemesis for Prog 2000. (Don't know where he's up to with League #5  but he's got an October deadline for me...)" "Nemesis marks a return to black and white art in 2000 AD, loaded with letratone, light and shade. This series is being published in glorious monochrome - the first B&W strip in the comic for five years..." "Dave Gibbons has already handed in his artwork for the Rogue Trooper story in Prog 2000, while Brian Bolland's cover is safely locked away in Tharg's Thrill-power vaults. It features a tribute to more than a dozen dead but not forgotten British comics, including Revolver, The Eagle, Deadline, Escape, A1, Valiant, Lion, Crisis, Battle, Starlord and many more..." "It also features Brian Bolland drawing Dredd, Strontium Dog, Nikolai Dante, Rogue Trooper (Rogue was vetted by Dave Gibbons for accuracy!) and his first ever rendering of Nemesis the Warlock. Be pure, be vigilant, etc..." "There are two Dredd stories in Prog 2000 - Wagner &McMahon at the start of the 100-page special issue, Alan Grant &Cam Kennedy to finish. The ABC Warriors will return in a six-page black &white story that sees the Mek-nificent Seven return to Mars, courtesy of Mills &Kevin Walker." "Brett Ewins has drawn a new Bad Company for the special issue and Steve Yeowell is drawing Zenith, but Ian Gibson has cried off creating new illustrations of Halo Jones and Robo-Hunter, blaming artistic ennui." "Strontium Dog returns in Prog 2000 - a decade after he died. Rather than rewrite history in a crass, Byrned-out style, the story is simply set before his death. The original creative team of Wagner & Exquerra reunite. Can you say old school extravaganza?" "Prog 2000 also features Sláine by Mills & Greg Staples; Nikolai Dante by Robbie Morrison & Simon Fraser and a tenth, as yet unrevealed strip." "Big hits in 2000 AD at the moment: camp vamp Devlin Waugh's mega-epic and the return of Nikolai Dante, both of them fast becoming firm favourites with Earthlings everywhere, as the saying goes." "Hot tips for Y2K: new future war saga Glimmer Rats by Gordon Rennie & Mark Harrison; veteran British artist John Burns painting a full series of 27th century swashbuckler NIkolai Dante and the return of creator-owned character Button Man ((c) John Wagner &Arthur Ranson)." "Expect more old school revivals by the original creators and new Thrills from younger writers like Robbie Morrison and Gordon Rennie." "Lotsa 2000 AD activity in other areas - the action figures launch at Memorabilia 99 on November 6th, 1999 - Re:Action Figures are flying in Carlos Ezquerra from Andorra for a rare British appearance, alongside John Wagner, Mark Harrison and others." "Harrison, S. B. Davis and Paul Staples are flying to Germany in October to help launch two monthly comics of Judge Dredd and 2000 AD strip from Egmont's German publishing companies." "New 2000 AD graphic novels are now in the shops - JUDGE DREDD: Judgement Day (Ennis, Ezquerra, Ormston, Doherty and Chris Halls - now better known as award-winning video director Chris Cunningham), DURHAM RED: The Scarlet Cantos (Abnett & Harrison) and JUDGE DREDD: The Scorpion Dance (featuring Beyond the Call of Duty) (Wagner, Ezquerra & Burns)." "2000 AD is sticking its toe in the direct sales market again with two Garth Ennis-scripted yarns in US comics format. JUDGE DREDD: Emerald Isle reprints the eponymous story by Ennis & Steve Dillon, while JUDGE DREDD: Death Aid collects a black comedy by Ennis & Ezquerra. Both are due to ship in November." "Andy Diggle is now officially editor of the Judge Dredd Megazine (and Sonic the Comic). Despite all the doomsayers who have predicted the Megazine's doom over the years, the title will continue publishing into the year 2000 - its tenth year on the shelves, giving it a longer run than any other British comic launched in the 1990s." "Err, is this the sort of thing you're after?" Just the thing, David, just the thing. Hey, Newsarama, Comic Wire, CSNsider, etc., give 2000 AD a mention! Changes Afoot. We all now about Larry Marder taking a job with McFarlane and Valentino taking his place... but is that what happened? One San Diego attendee writes "Larry Marder over at Image seemed to be signing people at the show left and right; must admit, leaves me kind of cold and seems to downgrade a bit the Image "brand name."... Jim Valentino is now "Publisher" (Marder was "Executive Director.")" Lounge Link Clem Clambake, source for last week's Alex Ross link asks us to give out the full address for his Alex Ross webpage. Here you go. http://www.insanerantings.com/Clambake/AlexRossLounge.html Stage Struck Another press release, here chaps. Bloody hell, we'll turn into our 'rivals' if we keep doing this... MAGUIRE AND RASPLER KEEP IT KA-BAAM!! KEVIN MAGUIRE, former artist on "Justice League", "Captain America" and creator of "Strikeback", and DAN RASPLER, editor of "JLA" and writer/creator of "Young Heroes in Love", have joined the cast of "Ka-Baam!!", New York City's only living comic book spectacular!! "Ka-Baam!!" performs Fridays at 8:00 p.m. at Surf Reality, (172 Allen St.) starting on October 15. (See below for details!!) "Ka-Baam!!" is an improvisational comedy/adventure show in the style and spirit of all your favorite Silver-Age comic books. The production assumes an ongoing continuity and will reveal an 80 Page Giant worth of secret origins, secret identities, secret crushes, team-ups, deaths, resurrections, alien invasions, love triangles, sidekicks, butt kicks, and untold crossover extravaganza crises in a world we never made!!! -Able to alliterate as well as Stan Lee? C'mon down! -Married to an inker? Get here! -Drink less than Bill Finger? Catch a cab! -Hate Hypertime? Take a number!! -Have opinions that don't officially represent Wizard? Take the F train!!! -Snap Judge and Infinite Critiquer? Walk!! -Losing sole rights to your most recognizable character? Come over and "network"!!! On top of it all the show features a collection of some of the brightest improvisers in New York banding together to keep the streets safe while delivering their lines with Adam West urgency and William Shatner aplomb (West and Shatner will not be appearing).0 Ka-Baam!! returns after playing to sold out audiences when it was part of Freestyle Repertory Theatre's spring 1999 season. Striking out on it's own like a young, cherub-y freshman, Ka-Baam!! stands apart in a world of often look-alike improvisational comedy. It's a Ka-Baam!! Kollector's Item Klassic!! SEE a hero struggle with powers that would make a normal person ecstatic! FEEL shorts-filling terror as a super villain enacts a world-conquering plan! HEAR what "sob" actually sounds like!!!! SIT on "real" chairs!!! TOUCH yourself if no one's looking!!! MEET people you may have sat on the subway next to!! If you prefer your superheroes gritty and your tone reverential, go watch Frank Miller mow his lawn (tickets available at box office)!! Get a taste at http://www.yesand.com/kabaam. Ka-Baam!! Nutkickin' fun, Fridays, October 15-November 19th, 8 p.m. Surf Reality 172 Allen St., NYC (F Train to the Second Avenue) $8 So, when are you moving it to the West End then? Grant Morrison Talks About Stuff. Grant Morrison has been speaking out over on http://www.nextplanetover.com (Home of really expensive back-of-DC Comics ads) On TPBs, "The next Invisibles collection is out soon, I think, reprinting the rest of Volume 2. I'm still trying to convince Vertigo to collect the rest of Volume 1 - not to mention Sebastian O, Kid Eternity, Flex Mentallo and all the other work that lies unexploited in their drawers." On the new JLA 2 HC, "EARTH 2, is a story of the evil Crime Syndicate of America, who live on the Anti-Matter Earth. I don't want to say too much about the story but I will say it has the sleaziest superbeings imaginable, Commissioner Wayne and Boss Gordon, evil super-gorillas, Luthor and Brainiac, colliding Earths, Superwoman seducing the transvestite Jimmy Olsen, Jeffrey Dahmer as President and lots more. If you buy only one superhero book ever, this is the one with everything. And Frank has outclassed even himself to produce the most beautiful comic art I've ever seen." On Zenith, "I won't be doing any more Zenith but I agree that someone should start looking into reprinting that stuff for the American market. I'm always asked about that series when I'm at conventions in the US." On films, "Mark Millar and I are working on a screenplay right now which has a superhero theme, although it's a new and different way of looking at superheroes." On Hypertime, "If Mark Waid and I get around to doing this 'Hypercrisis' thing we've talked about for 2001, I promise you will see the long awaited return of Sunshine Superman. You will also find out what Hypertime really is - alternate realities are only the beginning." On Bizarre Boys, "Pete (Milligan) and I did half of the script (32 pages) then Jamie Hewlett dropped out and we all lost interest. The half that was done is hysterical and very dark. I can't imagine it being published right now at the new Ned Flanders-approved Vertigo but times change and who knows?" On Doom Patrol, "I can't imagine doing any more Doom Patrol ever. Tom Peyer, I believe, is doing something with the 90's DP and he's the only person I'd trust not to ruin my beloved characters. John Byrne has entertained numerous schemes over the years and will probably end up doing something with Doom Patrol - like making it exactly the way it was in his youth but with enough of a Byrne spin to make everyone hate it." On the Invisibles TV show/film, "The Invisibles TV show and movie plans have ground to a halt. Mainly because the first volume of Invisibles has already been adapted as a movie and released under the name 'The Matrix'... The BBC had it and I'd written some scripts which told a revamped and extended version of the story from the first four issues. After five years of meetings and messing around, I was eventually told by a BBC high-up that 'no-one understands telepathy' and that was reason enough not to make the show. It went to Channel 4 and nothing happened there and now it's floating around with Chris Carter and a bunch of other production companies in the US. I don't think it will ever get made." More on the Matrix, "The Wachowski Brothers already stole the theme, the characters, the code names, the leather, the bald heads, the torture scenes, the magic mirror, the insect-machine bad guys, the evil agents with special powers and shades and just about everything else that would have made The Invisibles look great on film." On Flex Mentallo, "This was my first conscious attempt to create a comic spell - one designed to actually alter conditions within 'reality'. As I go deeper into the possibilities of using comics as hyper-sigils, I'm making new discoveries every day about how words and pictures can be used to get at the basic programming language of the universe we live in. Mad, perhaps but it's working and it makes me happy." And that's me lot. See you next week! Or even sooner... Rich Johnston ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [6] Tony's Isabella's Journal Tony Isabella tonyisa@ohio.net Tony Isabella is a featured weekly columnist in the nation's largest comic book collector's newspaper, Comics Buyer's Guide. His satiric "Tony's Tips!" is a favorite among fans and industry professionals alike. A life long comic book fan, Tony began his career in 1972 as a comics professional as assistant to Stan Lee! He has worked in nearly every aspect of the business, from retailing, to distribution to writing. Among his credits is the creation of DC's first starring black super-hero, Black Lightning. Tony's latest project, the daily "Tony's Isabella's Journal" made its debut in June of 1997 on the world wide web exclusively through World Famous Comics, at http://www.wfcomics.com/tony The following is one of those daily columns . . . Tony Isabella's Journal #793 for August 31, 1999 I'm taking a stroll down memory lane today, revisiting a 1964 issue of CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN. Long before I knew who Jack Kirby was--or that he had created the title--the Challengers were among my favorite comic-book characters. Ace Morgan, test pilot. Rocky Davis, Olympics wrestling champ. Red Ryan, mountain climber. Prof Haley, deep sea diver. Just four guys living on borrowed time and in a mountain...and having great adventures every other month. Once I figured out what "bi-monthly" meant, which was around 1960 or so, I never missed an issue. It didn't particularly bother me if I missed an issue of the other DC titles I read back then--the Superman books, the Batman books, the various books edited by Julie Schwartz--but CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN? No way! I'd only seen a few of the Jack Kirby issues prior to becoming a Challengers fanatic, so it was Bob Brown who set the style of the title for me. Like most DC artists of the time, Brown's work was somewhat subdued. It was very solid drawing and storytelling, but it lacked the excitement and the flamboyance to be found in those audacious Marvel comic books by Kirby and Stan Lee. Still, Brown could draw rugged heroes like nobody's business and any one of his Challengers could mop up the floor with both John Wayne and Bruce Willis. As drawn by Brown, even June Robbins, Ace's girlfriend, was one tough lady. No wonder the guys let her come along on the occasional adventure. The cover of CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #41 (December, 1964- January, 1965) portrays a symbolic scene from "The Challenger Who Quit!" Rocky, head bowed slightly, grim expression visible, purple Challenger jammies draped over one arm, carrying a suitcase with the other, is walking away from a battle between his teammates and the monstrous Quadruple Man. As Ace leaps from a steel girder, he pauses in mid-air to shout, "Stay out of this, ROCKY! You quit the team, remember? We'll handle the QUADRUPLE MAN without you!" Not one for sentiment, is he? However, before we get to the story behind the shocking cover scene, we have an inside front cover public service page, "Children of Tomorrow." Drawn by Bernard Bailey, the page celebrates United Nations Day (October 24) and touts a "Declaration of the Rights of a Child" adopted by the U.N. general assembly. The rights include food, health care, and education and, sadly, are still but a dream for countless children in our world of 1999. "The Challenger Who Quit" starts with a two-thirds-of-a-page symbolic splash and then gets right into the action. A mysterious maze suddenly appears in an unnamed city located near Challenger Mountain. The boys are already on the scene when it materializes, though no explanation--not even coincidence--is given for their presence. Since "nobody wants to tinker with that whatever is," they grab a delayed-action bomb and climb into the maze to destroy it. Sounds like a plan, right? Red places the bomb in a convenient nook and sets its timer for five minutes. That's when the walls of the maze start moving, hiding the bomb and trapping the Challengers. How do they escape? They don't. The maze blows up without leaving any debris behind. Three-fourths of the team are unharmed, but Rocky is lying flat on his face. He comes to in the next panel and assures his teammates that he's not injured: "Play it cool, pal! Outside of hearin' a little way-out music--I'm okay." But, three days later, just as the Challengers receive word that something else is materializing not far from where the maze appeared, Rocky walks into the command center in civilian clothing. He's quitting the team to go back into pro wrestling, claiming it's time he started looking out for number one again. His pals don't believe him...and they shouldn't. It's just a tough-guy act that falls apart when Rocky collapses in front of them. Ever since they were caught in the explosion, Rocky has been having black-outs and head pains. He's seen a doctor and had some x-rays taken, but is waiting on a specialist's report. Not wanting to risk blacking out when the Challengers might be counting on him, he pulled the wrestling bit to give him an "out" without revealing his injury. You big lug, Rocky. The Challs tell Rocky to sit tight while they go handle this new "whatever," but he doesn't want them to stick their necks out on his account. Rocky splits and, while his pals are getting their butts kicked by the Quadruple Man, he gets the business from some charming kids. "Why're are you lettin' your buddies do it alone?" "Who wants the autograph of a quitter?" The chapter ends with Rocky watching the battle on television. But, before we get back to the action, we get a third-of-a-page ad for the then-current issue of DOOM PATROL ("A Comics Thrill You'll Never Forget!"); a full-page ad for an issue of SHOWCASE featuring "GI Joe" (war stories by writer/editor Robert Kanigher and his crew of artists); a half-page filler about a man who predicted his own death (he's killed on a golf course by a train), and a half-page ad for Monogram model kits. The price of a Tiger Shark Fighter was a mere 98 cents, but the P-38 Twin Boom Fighter would set you back $1.98. I never really got into these kinds of model kits myself, not when a buck could buy eight 12-cent comic books. When "The Challenger Who Quit" resumes, the Challengers (sans Rocky) are still getting clobbered by the Quadruple Man...who then disappears as completely and as unexpectedly as the maze had days before. Our stymied heroes are standing around scratching their heads when Rocky's doctor shows up to give them the report on their absent member's x-rays. Not only did doctors make house calls back then; they even walked into battle zones. Rocky's black-outs are being caused by a tiny sliver of metal from the bomb they used on the maze. It's acting like a receiver, picking up signals from whatever created the maze and the Q-Man and giving Rocky such a headache when an apparition appears. Removing the sliver will cure Rocky, but he chooses to leave it in so they can track down the source of the apparitions...despite the danger that getting too close to the signal could be fatal. The team flies above the area with Rocky leading them to the signal's point of origin. Landing near a fortress-like laboratory, they bust down the door and find a dead scientist hooked up to a "Flash Gordon helmet." Ace explains it all. The dead guy's machine turned thought into matter. The maze represented man's frustration, while the Q-Man represented man's four weakness of man: hate, greed, revenge, and envy. By creating them in three dimensions, the scientist had hoped to learn how they could be controlled. When the scientist died, his creations "leaked" out into the nearby city. That's when his third and final creation, a spectral avatar of fear, makes its appearance and starts bouncing our boys against the walls. A barely-conscious Ace grabs the helmet and uses it to create duplicates of the Challengers to carry the battle directly to the fear-creature. But, when they get through its defenses, they find there's nothing under its hood or cape. "Like they say about most fears," intones Ace, "it was all in the mind." Rocky feels great--the pain is gone--and his buddies are glad he's still on the team. Cue to the third-of-a-page ad suggesting kids "start [their] own secret club with a Silly Putty secret code. Ask for Silly Putty where you bought this comic!" I did ask, but the convention dealer from whom I purchased this comic book looked at me like I was insane. We get a three-page break before the issue's second exciting adventure: a "Challengers' Mail Chute" letters page; a subscription ad offering 10 issues of CHALLENGERS, RIP HUNTER, DOOM PATROL, or SEA DEVILS for a buck; a "Willy and Dilly" gag by Henry Boltinoff; and an ad for an 80-PAGE GIANT "celebrating 25 years of Batman and Robin." It only cost a quarter. "2 Hours to Die," the second story in the issue, is billed as "a Legion of Death Cheaters Special." Ace, clearly a grandmaster of exposition, sums up the situation on the splash page: "I'm talking to Prof by radio-phone. He's TRAPPED down there in a TNT-charged sub...his borrowed time's running out...and we can't help him!" Don't you believe it! Challengers never quit! Prof has perfected a one-man sub which can operate at great depths. When landslides threaten an old crew drilling on the ocean floor, he's called in to set off a controlled blast that will shake off all the loose boulders. Unfortunately, before he can do that, another landslide drops a boulder on his sub, jamming the hatch and trapping man, bomb, and vehicle under its weight. Unless he's rescued, Prof has only two hours to live. Ace hooks Prof's sub with a cable and grappling hook, but the pressure almost kills him. The cable snaps when Rocky and Red try to pull the sub free. Red tries to climb down the undersea mountain to plant a small blasting charge--the only one left--in the hope the explosion might shake Prof's sub free. Instead, Red gets clobbered by a landslide and loses the charge. That leaves Rocky to follow through on Prof's desperate last- chance plan: riding the anchor down to Prof's sub and swinging it into the boulder. The anchor smashes the boulder. Prof flips the bomb out of his sub and speeds away with Rocky in tow. They get clear of the VROOOM just in time. The Challengers are reunited on the surface. Red and Rocky do a 1964 version of Jerry's final thought. RED: We took a little beating, maybe--but we're all here--and alive! ROCKY: Yeah--we outran death by a few seconds--which puts us right on schedule, doesn't it? Both of these stories were written by France Edward Herron, a prolific talent who was a staff writer for STARS & STRIPES during World War II, wrote short stories for slick magazines, worked on a number of newspaper comic strips (Davy Crockett, Nero Wolfe, Bat Masterson), and penned countless stories for comic-book companies like Centaur, Fawcett, Marvel, Quality, and DC. His comics credits include Captains America and Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Blackhawk, Boy Commandoes, Batman, and Tomahawk. Other CHALLENGERS writers included Jack Kirby (who had a hand, at least, in every script he drew for the boys), Arnold Drake, and Bill Finger. I'm not sure when editor Murray Boltinoff began his long tenure on the title, but he did a terrific job guiding it for many, many years. Sidebar. Boltinoff was as fan-friendly a comics editor as one could find in the 1960s. Whenever possible, he would answer reader comments and questions with brief postcards. I have a couple dozen of them, the cherished memories of my boyhood dreams and an editor who took those dreams seriously. Although I never worked with Boltinoff, I learned a great deal from him over the years. Above all else, Murray was a consummate professional and a damned decent man. No one passes through life without picking up a few regrets. One of mine is that I spent less time with Murray than I would have liked. Back to CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN #41. In a house ad, Bob Hope himself...or a reasonable facsimile thereof...hawked the latest issue of THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE. He called it "a book-length comedy bonanza!" On the other hand, for only 89 cents (plus 11 cents postage and handling), you could BUILD YOUR OWN REAL ELECTRIC ENGINE. It was "educational, instructive, scientific, useful," and would make "a great school science project." Worried about the bullies who beat up kids who show up with great science projects? For a dime, physical director Ben Rebhuhn would teach readers over 14 years of age how to get a "new million dollar he-man body...strength-powered with 520 mighty muscles." It sounded too good to be true. The inside back cover of CHALLENGERS #41 was a full-page ad for Hasbro's new G.I. Joe toy soldier. For a quarter--to cover the cost of handling--Hasbro would send you a "G.I. Joe Catalogue of action and equipment pictures with full descriptions on how to build a collection." I passed on that one, too. Was I completely immune to comic-book advertisements? Nope. When I saw Aurora's ad for their 98-cent Superman hobby kit, I was up, up, and away to the nearest hobby shop. I bought that kit, the Batman kit, and the Superboy and his dog Krypto kit. I had zilch aptitude for even these simple model kits--my dad fixed the mess I made of them as best he could--but I still kept buying them. When I fall, I fall hard. Here comes Tony's final thought. CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN remains one of my favorite comics of all time. There was even something about the "off" issues that kept me reading them. Maybe it was the simplicity of the concept, four heroic friends having fantastic adventures. Maybe it was that the Challengers were a sort of grown-up kid gang. Or maybe it was because I had this unspoken feeling that, were I ever lucky enough to meet Ace and Rocky and Prof and Red in person, they would take me along on those adventures. And, now that I think about, that's exactly what they did. I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff. Tony Isabella ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [7] A Voice from the Doorway Christopher Myers myers@albany.net [By night Chris is a forty something part time writer, reader and comic fan. By day he is a Police Officer in upstate New York where he lives with his wife, along with two dogs and two cats.] I'm away this week and next so I'm doing reviews of some of the comics that I have read recently. Hopefully there will be something here to catch your fancy. Strangers in Paradise #26, Abstract Studios, $2.75 Writer/artist: Terry Moore SIP is the story of the relationship between Francine, Katchoo and their roommate David. Katchoo loves Francine, David loves Katchoo and Francine is confused beyond belief. Terry Moore, the writer/artist of this creator owned title has a knack for drawing you into a story. He makes you care about the characters and what happens to them and boy does stuff happen to them. This issue revolves around a planned trip to New York City to pick up David's inheritance and Francine's reluctance to go. After an argument with Francine, Katchoo and David head for NYC and Terry Moore leaves us with a cliffhanger ending, something that he does so well. I've read the entire series and I like the book as much now as I did when I first started it, though after the final page of this issue I'm almost afraid to read the next issue. Mojo Mechanics #'s 1,2 Syndicate Publishing, $2.95 Writer: Tait Bergstrom Artist: Matt Pasteris Ajax Sterling and Bippy the Space Hippo are the mechanics in this black and white space fantasy. They travel the space ways doing service calls on everything from a blown fuses on space stations to fixing broken down Dachandran space vessels. The series, there have been two issues so far, is a mix of adventure and humor. Ajax and Bippy get themselves in all sorts of messes and then in spite of themselves they manage to survive. Each issue has contained a couple of stand alone stories, the writer Tait Bergstrom has the relationship between the two down pretty well and artist Matt Pasteris does a nice job on the visuals. The art is clean and the story is laid out so it is easy to follow. Except for a little bad language this is a title that could appeal to all ages. Liberty Meadows #'s 1,2 Insight Studios Group, $2.95 Writer/artist: Frank Cho Welcome to Liberty Meadows Animal Sanctuary, where Brandy is gorgeous and Frank has fallen in love with her, though she doesn't notice. The two of them try to maintain order in the mischief laden world of Dean, Leslie, Ralph and Truman, some of the anthropomorphic animals who reside there. This comic collects the nationally syndicated newspaper comic strip in eight week chronological chunks. My newspaper used to carry Liberty Meadows and when it was gone I missed it greatly, it's a fun story with lots of humor and some great sight gags. I'm glad that Frank Cho decided to collect the series in this manner, it's much better than waiting a year or more for a trade collection. Good luck Frank, I hope that Brandy notices soon. ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [8] RANDOM THOUGHTS IN A LESS THAN RANDOM WORLD Gary Sassaman GSassaman@AOL.COM [Gary Sassaman is the Writer/Artist of INNOCENT BYSTANDER, now appearing in each and every issue of GEEKSVILLE, published by 3 Finger Prints.] Okay, so I was at camp all summer. So I didn't write. So sue me. This is what I've been reading... The Batman: No Man's Land saga continues to chug along, and its really some of the finest work being done in super-hero comics these days (even though the words "finest work" and "super-hero comics" don't always go together). One major bump in the road though is the work of Larry Hama. Hama has been announced as the ongoing writer of the flagship "Batman" title, once the dust settles in No Man's Land and Gotham City is back to "normal." Judging from his latest stint on the book, "Low Road to Golden Mountain, " in Legends 122 and Shadow 90, we have much to worry about. First of all, we have such lovely dialogue as this when Batman says to Lynx: "But I outweigh you by 70 pounds and my fist has twice the mass of yours. Simple physics. No contest." Okay, if you're going to bring simple physics into comic books, you might as well fold them all up and make paper airplanes out of them. Simple physics? Bane is 3 times the size of Batman (much more if Kelly Jones is drawing him). No contest? But beyond the awful dialogue, there's one simple matter wrong with this story: Batman stands by while a child is brutally beaten by a group of thugs. "There are too many of them, " he tells Lynx. Huh? What? First of all, Batman saying there are too many of them? Since when? Second...the entire Batman story (mythos, if you will) is based on a violent act in front of a child. The reason for Batman existing is the brutal murder of his parents, which he witnessed. No way in hell is Batman going to stand by and allow an innocent girl to be beaten. No way. Where was the editor the day this came into the office? Is the Bat-staff too tied up trying to coordinate this massive effort to notice the things that make a story out and out wrong? And of course, on the first page of the next issue, the little girl is fine. No bumps or bruises. Just fine. Sigh... I'm looking forward to the Greg Rucka and Devin Grayson Bat-books. Hama? No way. No way. Well, the long nightmare known as "Spider-Man: Chapter One" is finally over, and we can all ask ourselves one simple question: Why? I mean what did it all prove? Electro got a new costume...(a crummy one at that)...Peter got a computer instead of a microscope..."The Burglar" got a better "reason" for killing Uncle Ben...and what else? Nothing. Nada. Zip. And if you read the Hulk 1999 Annual, you get Byrne's retooling of the Hulk's origin, too. Now we have Skrulls involved. C'mon, John, leave well- enough alone. At least the X-Men: Hidden Years book will focus on untold stories. It will also be inked by the great Tom Palmer. Byrne with a good inker is still a great joy in comics. (At least I hope it is...) The whole Siegel family/Superman copyright saga has been a fascinating story, but I fear, ultimately, it's not going to end the way most of us feel it should. I think Time Warner will not pay them anything. They've invested 60 years of money into this character, and they're not about to set a precedent of letting copyrights (or half of a copyright) slip out of their hands. Superman is much more than a comic book to them (to all of us), He's a symbol, an icon. It would be nice for the Siegel family to see some of the rewards from the character a young Jerry Siegel co-created many years ago in Cleveland. But I feel we'll never really know the whole story about Siegel and Shuster and Superman...and what DC/National really gave them (or didn't give them, for that matter). It would be a wonderful book. One of the more disturbing aspects of all of this though, for me, at least, is the Comicon.com coverage of it. Since Mania broke the story, Comicon.com ended up playing catch-up...but often times adding their own twisted little twist to it: Reading into the fact that the story broke on a Steve Geppi-owned property (Mania.com is a part of Another Universe which Geppi purchased) and wondering if it's Geppi's way of "firing a shot across the bow of Paul Levitz." Rick Veitch, who runs the editorial side of Comicon.com wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to two of his favorite topics: Geppi/Diamond and DC Comics. You can't beat Comicon.com for daily news coverage from around the world and Steve Conley has designed a great website...but personally, I long for one that's a little more objective. (I could also do without the bad puns when some comics person dies..."John Broome catches last Zeta beam to Rann." Death isn't particularly funny.) One of the great parts of the summer for me was Comic-Con International: San Diego and sharing a booth with Rich and Sandy Koslowski to introduce our new book Geeksville (yes, this is where the plug portion of our column begins, so leave now if this bugs you). I'm happy to say we had a great Con and Geeksville #1 is almost sold out. #2 is now at the printer and should be in stores on October 13. And I'm very sorry I missed SPX this year. That con has always been a great one for me. I do intend to attend APE in Feb. of 2000, so look for me there. It's more in my neck of the woods these days. I'm going to try and write more often. By my records, the last time I wrote was in June...so look for at least a monthly column from me from now on. (Try and keep the applause down to a dull roar, please.) ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [9] Comic Abstracts John Barker jbarker@inch.com ["I live and work in New York City. Comic Abstracts contains some commentary and my thoughts on the comics world. http://www.inch.com/~jbarker/comic has my previous work." -John ] SuBvErSiON and GI JOE: Like any good junior high student, my ritual in the mid 80's was coming home, making iced tea, firing up my Apple ][, and watching He-Man, Autobots, and GI Joe. Unlike my contemporaries, I never got into collecting GI Joe, but oh well... I had a damn great time with the GI Joe toys (with which I made several Super-8 films, I'll have to covert them to Quicktime someday...). And except for the fact that it was only cartoon violence and no one ever died, I loved GI Joe. Granted, it couldn't teach me all the facts of life, but shows like 'Remington Steele', 'A-Team', and 'Riptide' (now there was a show...) picked up where GI Joe left off. So how does this deal with subversion? Could a children's animated action show incorporate non-standard and fractured bits of the accepted dominating ideology? Well, I didn't think it could happen, but it did. THIS GI Joe episode had two pairs of characters that were separated from their respective groups. On the Joe side, my all-time favorite Joes 'Lady Jay' and the super-cool 'Flint' were undergoing some sort of scenario when the were abducted. And for the Cobras, the bad-girl-before-there-were-bad-girls-in-comics 'Baroness' and (I think) Destro were off doing something when they were taken. Each pair had been kidnapped by a third party, so then the Joes blamed Cobra and vice versa. The fact that Lady Jay was off with her more than friend Flint was kind of cool. Not that my teenage mind could understand the concept of a tryst occurring between them. Similarly, Baroness was always a sort of Destro's concubine, or so it seemed. Here's where the subversion took place. Back at GI JOE HQ, 'Hawk' or some commander is discussing the appearance of Lady Jay and Flint. In the discussion, Hawk says "Let's face it, they were...". The scene changes to Cobra Commander saying "kidnapped". When that happened I said 'woah! stop it right there!! Hawk was going to say that Lady Jay and Flint had run off together... bumping uglies or some such'. The mere suggestion of something that racy in a comic book floored my mind. For days I was like "a kids animated show... the implied that two of the characters were doing something never talked about on a kids show!". I mean, similarly thinking Brainy Smurf and Smurfette were going at it would be pure conjecture on anyone's part, it's not like Brainy started spouting off that Smurfette was a screamer or some such. Or Velma asking Shaggy why his eyes were blood shot. It warped my fragile little mind. If ANYONE has seen this episode, please drop me a line. And speaking of the Baroness, it never dawned on me that she was this tall, shapely dark haired woman with this tight leather dominatrix clothing. Sadder still she was in a world with these loser Cobra's who were never able to thwart the mighty Joes. And ultimately she was a contrived character (with 3 inch spiked heels, no less) much like the rest of the mundane, formulaic, and predictable GI Joe and Cobra teams. I think 'GI Joe Special Missions' series was much more interesting, but that's just me. So I thought, how could a reader, in this day in age read GI Joe and get some sort of subversive message that Larry Hama didn't intend? (GI Joe was written by Larry Hama, someday I'll write about why I don't like him). How could you insert double entendres and sexual undertones in your friendly neighborhood GI Joe comic book, where the body counts are low and not much really happens? Oh, what have I here? GI JOE #55? Let's take a line where Baroness has Snake Eyes trapped on some brain brain wave scanner and has unmasked the apparently grotesquely ugly Snake Eyes. BARONESS: This is a bigger catch than we thought! Snake-Eyes knows everything there is to know about GI JOE operations... COBRA OFFICER: Baroness! The twins report that the counter-revolutionaries are breaking through the outer defenses and that they are being led by Joes! Here's where the subversive fun comes in. Take various words or phrases that could be misconstrued and put quotes around them and emphasize them as you say them. So that when you'd say them you'd raise your fingers as if to indicate parentheses: BARONESS: This is a "BIGGER CATCH" than we thought! Snake-Eyes knows everything there is to know about "GI JOE OPERATIONS"... COBRA OFFICER: Baroness! The Twins report that the counter-revolutionaries are "breaking through" the "OUTER DEFENSES" and that they are being "LED BY JOES"! Know we know that there's something big about Snake Eyes (haw haw) and there's something wink-wink, nudge-nudge about GI Joe Operations. And the Cobra Officer tells us that the Joes are all gay. Now that you get the idea, let's take other parts of GI Joe #55 out of context. Check this passage, where Joes shoot darts at Cobras: STALKER: Load up another one of those "hypodermic darts", Low-Light... I think I see a "COBRA" that's "about the SAME SIZE" as Leatherneck! LEATHERNECK: Remember, I like my shirts "ROOMY"! LOW-LIGHT: Hope there's enough knockout juice in this dart to "PACIFY HIS FACE". STALKER: You "GOT" him! Now we need a medium sized cobra for me! Or here where Leatherneck has to haul a wounded Stalker: LEATHERNECK: He wants us to take Stalker "DOWN THE TRAIL", while he stays behind to fight a "HOLDING ACTION" Baroness and company try to make a hasty retreat: DR. MINDBENDER: The "HELICOPTER" is useless sitting on the ground If we "GET UP" in the air, we can "USE IT" as a "GUNSHIP" BARONESS: We need "DOOR GUNNERS"! Tomax! Xamot! Keep in mind that these are snippets of actual dialog. Now your GI Joe comic book (or nearly any comic book, for that matter) can be rife with a fascinating subtext and metaphor that never ceases to get old or trite. Because a text is one thing, but you and only can decide how to interpret it. And if you can read more into a comic intended to challenge adolescent males, then hey, more power to you. So now you know... and "knowing is half the battle" JEALOUSY AND COLUMNISTS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY Recently the topic of jealousy within the ranks of columnists has come up. Jealousy is pretty strong word, considering most of us have jobs and lives. I strongly doubt any columnists have met one another or our editor, to be able to form some sort of petty jealousy, as none of us do this professionally. And time being what it is not many have the time to read CBEM cover to cover. Occasionally I enjoy a really bad comic, the way I enjoy Mystery Science Theater 3000. You know: when bad art, bad writing meet for something that wants to be insipid and mediocre and still falls way short. Granted, I enjoy great books much, much more... it's still important to remind yourself what a quality read is by sampling some of the detritus of published comics. Recently, an anonymous person (as I will refer to as "Anony-moose", for anyone who has read the superb series 'CONCRETE') was shocked and appalled that good Marlan Harris tore into "Prophecy of the Firestarters", no, wait, it was called "Prophecy of the Soul Sorcerers". Quite frankly I was surprised it wasn't called "The Soul Sorcerer's Prophecy", but then people like to handle possessives in their own way. Anony-Moose "urged" everyone to make it their "MISSION to find PoSS". So of course I went to my store and said "Larry, I'm on a MISSION to find PoSS". No I didn't say that exactly... it's hard to get passionate about finding obscure indie titles these days. I'd never read it or heard of it. And since I'm not one to pass up a comic book that Marlan gave a bad review, I thought I'd check it out (having made that my mission, heh heh). It was not my cup of tea, and I had to go to several stores to find it. I'd say if you have the time to track down anything, it's much more worth your time to track down Baron & Rude's 'NEXUS' or every issue of 'EIGHTBALL', but that's my opinion. But if you're curious about Soul Sorcerers, and wondered if they had prophecies, then you might be interested in that book. Anony-moose suggested that Marlan Harris was trying to deny the creators of 'PROPHECY' a livelihood by being "hateful". Ummm... I kinda doubt it. I don't think Marlan (no offense, buddy) holds the final say on the success or failure of any one book out there, nor would he have any desire to make that sort of personal attack. Who was it that said any publicity is good publicity. Wizard takes shots at books they don't like. They've torn into John Byrne for writing (and Marvel for publishing) 'Spiderman: Chapter One'. They've been relentless by citing it as a completely rehash of Lee and Ditko's origin of Spiderman. I agree. I couldn't make it past the first issue and spent the next week trying to forget about it. Was Wizard, and I'm partially quoting Anony-Moose here, trying to utterly DESTROY John Byrne's livelihood: his hard work, his labor of love... his baby? Uh, no. I'm sure John Byrne will let his work stand on its own. GOOD COMIC READ OF LAST WEEK: Sin City: Hell and Back #3 by Frank Miller -john barker http://www.inch.com/~jbarker ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [10] And let me tell you why .... David Coulter DneColt@aol.com Time again to award the Dougie, I think. Long time readers may recall this coveted award, given out once a year, to the comic that was "too good for it's own good" during the last twelve months. For new readers, the Dougie is named after cartoonist Doug Potter, who's excellent albeit short-lived series "Denizens of Deep City" prompted me to comment "This book is good. Too good. People are too stupid to see how good this book is. It will never last." And, sadly, it didn't. Now that I have a marginally more public forum (the internet) than the forum in which the Dougie was first awarded (a little-noticed, weekly newspaper) I feel it behooves me to refrain from awarding the winner before the book is actually canceled (traditionally, the Dougie was awarded as soon as I spotted the first issue, and I was never wrong). Dougie candidates are books that are invariably skating on thin ice to begin with, and they don't need ME starting cancellation rumors with the first issue. This will be the third Dougie I've awarded here in CBEM: The first went to Barry Windsor-Smith's late lamented "Storyteller," and the second to DC's "Chase." Past winners have included "Big Numbers," and "The Eye of Mogambo." Now, I realize this is a totally cynical, self-fulfilling award (though not on my own part, just because I have the eerie ability to spot a doomed book, I still make a point of riding it all the way down), but I look on it as a public service to my fellow comic fans. First, I'm pointing out a high-quality series that -- in all likelihood -- they missed out on the first time around. Second, I'm hoping to prick their conscious a bit, maybe get them to take a chance on something they wouldn't ... next time around, anyway. This year's winner is a book that was dogged by cancellation rumors almost before the first issue hit the stands, the almost universal reception its introduction received was "Huh. Sounds funny. But it won't last five issues." Not surprisingly, it didn't. It also represent a first, since it represents the first time one company has received back-to-back awards. The company is DC Comics, and the book is the short-lived, much-loved (by me, at any rate), and funny-as-hell "Vext." "Vext" seems to have been the last gasp of DC's brief, timid, "hey let's try something new" phase that began about 18 months ago with "Young Heroes in Love," "Major Bummer," "Chase" and "Chronos." And "Vext" WAS different. For one thing, it was funny. How can a book that stars the Former God of Bad Luck not be funny? Especially when it co-stars the God of Ill-Timed Flatulence. For another thing, it wasn't a superhero book, which these days almost seems radical. Oh, sure, there was the obligatory second-issue-sales-boosting JLA appearance, but it was handled in a typically tongue-in-cheek fashion. And when I say "typically," I mean in the typical style of "Vext's" writer and creator, Keith Giffen, who brought tongue-in-cheek to new levels during the 1980's as the writer of "Justice League," "L.E.G.I.O.N." and many others. In fact, time was Keith Giffen was a marquee name. For a period of about 5 years there, he was the go-to house writer for DC, based on his wildly successful run on the "Legion of Superheroes." These days, he can't seem to get anything going, which is too bad. People either loved or hated his run on Justice League. I was very much in the "loved it" category. I think Justice League was a book very much ahead of its time, inasmuch as it was a very "Sienfeld"-esque comic. Of all the memorable moments from that run, most involved people just standing around talking. In fact, the best action scene in the whole run was the long-awaited showdown between Batman and Guy Gardener that ended in a single punch. Giffen's books weren't about action and fighting, they about ideas and dialogue. They were about the other side of the superhero cliches, the standing around and waiting for the bad guys to strike part. Keith Giffen is one of the few writers who could pull of an issue about the poor sap the JLA leaves behind on monitor duty, and make it more interesting than the story about the other guys out busting heads. Frankly, I'd rather read a dozen Keith Giffen stories about Elongated Man than a dozen Grant Morrison yet-another-end-of-the-universe-epics. Giffen's stories just have more soul. And "Vext" was a book that exemplified this approach. It was smart, funny, and very readable. The main character was a totally hapless schmoe you couldn't help but identify -- and empathize -- with. It was Giffen's most "Sienfeld"-esque comic of all. In the first six issues, very little happened, but a lot went on, if you get me. It was a book about nothing the way "Sienfeld" was a show about nothing. But the fans don't like comics about nothing, they like slugfests (a trait that Giffen lampooned on the cover of the last issue). I'd been looking forward to this book from the time I first read the solicitation, but I wasn't too surprised to see -- in the very first "Vext" message board on AOL -- a posting that said "The book looks funny, but I'm not going to buy it, because it will never last." It's retarded, stunted thinking like that that doomed this book. There is no possible way to justify thinking like this. If this thought has ever crossed your mind, then it's safe to say you may consider yourself an idiot. I don't doubt I'll get letters about this from people trying to rationalize this point of view -- outraged that I've called them idiots, but -- I'm sorry -- if you truly can't get what's wrong with that mentality, then you're an idiot. Trying to rationalize will only make you a loud-mouthed idiot. But it's not just the fan's fault, there's plenty of blame to spread around here. Retailers, of course, get their usual share for ignoring anything that's out of the ordinary. And DC Comics gets a heaping helping for just tossing this book out with virtually no marketing support, and then acting surprised when it withered. And they get an extra dollop for pulling the plug so quickly. If there was ever a book that stood a chance of building a word-of-mouth audience, it was "Vext." So, raspberries to all you fans and retailers who ignored this book first time around and a big Bronx Cheer to DC for blowing it again, two years in a row. You fans can redeem yourselves by picking this gem up (if you can find it). You retailers can redeem yourselves by supporting something -- anything, I don't care what -- new and different this year. And DC can redeem itself by bringing "Vext" back as a graphic novel (a la last year's hilarious "Bogie Man"). If they put "Vext" in bookstores under the Paradox imprint, they might actually pick up a few new fans. Wouldn't *that* be something? Comments? Criticisms? Flames? E-mail them to DneColt@aol.com ______________________________________________________________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [11] Interview by Jennifer M. Contino Buddy Scalera is one of the hardest working people at Wizard. He spends anywhere from 10-14 hours a day online making their internet site one of the best comics related sites out there. Besides working for WIZARD as their official online editor, Buddy also finds time to pen his new comic series NECROTIC:DEAD FLESH ON A LIVING BODY. This series has it all, mummies, curses, death and deception! The concept is new age and very cool. It's hard to find another series like this on the market today and I think it is going to be a HUGE success. I thought that interviewing Buddy would be cool-sort of placing the shoe on the other foot! Since Buddy usually spends his time interviewing or finding folks to do interviews, I thought it would be interesting if he had to be in the "hot seat." =So, besides being a full time online editor and in charge of the WIZARD online site, you are also working on a new comic series called Necrotic: DEAD FLESH on a LIVING BODY, for AMERICAN MULE ENTERTAINMENT. What can you tell us about this series? It's basically a new look at the classic "mummy's curse." It's about this Indiana Jones type of archaeologist who dies a very old man in the 1930s. He reawakens in 1999 as a mummy. When he removes the bandages, he's thrilled that his body has rejuvenated itself and he appears to be about 25 years old. The only problem is that every 48 hours he must reapply the bandages because his flesh starts to rot off. It's sort of his "curse." =How did you come about this idea? Mike Marts was working at Wizard as Promotions Manager and we commuted to work together. We decided to pitch an idea to Marvel because we heard they were doing horror comics again. (That later became the Supernaturals line by Chaos! Comics.) Later Mike's friend Adam Wallenta said he was starting a line of comics and would we like to have it published at American Mule. Interestingly enough, Adam was a kick ass artist and did the original character sketches for Necrotic. =How did you and Mike Marts divide the writing chores? Simple. Mike and I came up with the essential story line. Mike plotted what would happen in each issue the first arc. I wrote the back-story for the main character. Then I would script pages 1-11 and Mike would script 12-22. We broke the work up pretty evenly. Of course, the really, really brilliant writing happens in the first 11 pages of each issue. =I've heard this is very scary material! What was your inspiration for the DYING FLESH? My wife, who is a nurse. One night she came home and told me about a diabetic, who was "necrotic," which meant she had dead flesh on her legs. Imagine having to sit in bed knowing that the flesh on your leg was rotting and dead? Creeped me out. It also creeps me out when my wife tells me that someone vomits on her. Of course, we didn't have much of a story with a mummy who throws up on people. =Just three issues? OR are there more stories you are saving for another day? The first story line is three issues. If it sells enough, we will make it an ongoing series. We already have a great follow up in mind. Of course, in mummy stories lots of people die.so I can't actually tell you WHO the next issue would feature. =Pat Quinn is a very talented artist, is this his big break or has he done prior comics work? Pat's done some small indy comic work. In fact, he was featured in the Comics Journal for his battle with his former publisher Avatar Press over some non-payment problem. Anyway, Pat was introduced to me by Ian Feller who used to be the editor of Combo magazine (where I was a freelance writer), and later worked at Wizard. (Ian's now at CrossGen Comics.) Pat and I corresponded for a while, but I didn't really have anything I could use him on, until Necrotic came along. You can see Pat's style and confidence grow from Necrotic #1-3. It's really neat. Pat's pencils are so tight that there is no "inker" in the traditional sense. Adam digitally inks the raw pencils and then adds colors. Ain't technology a hoot? =Does WIZARD mind that you are also doing your own comics? IS this a conflict of interests? I mean, the magazine you work for can make or break a comic book company and series. ISN'T it tempting to just have someone at WIZARD write a killer kick ass review of your comic and plaster it on the first page? Well, I can't speak for all the editors, but I did discuss it with my bosses before I worked on the series. We recognized that we all love comics, which is why we're in this biz. For me, it was the next logical step as a writer to write a comic. I've written some other stuff before this including some Elvira. But this is my biggest project to date. Wizard's got good editors. They won't write about Necrotic just because I am writing it. Of course, if they DO like it, I hope they yell it from the highest mountaintop!